Such A Twisted Legacy
by Ruby Silverstar
Summary: When Keefe won't wake up after the events of Legacy, Sophie, with the help of the Council, resorts to drastic measures and comes to regret it. Legacy-compliant! More information in first chapter.
1. One

**Hello, my lovely readers! So, this is going to be a little different. Yes, as it says in the description, this is Legacy-compliant! It is not in the same continuity as 'When Even Two Sparrows Fall' or any of my oneshots. So, Biana and Dex are not dragons, Fitz cannot earthbend, none of that.  
****What does carry over is the following: Everblaze is semi-sentient. Pairings. Lord Cassius is a dollophead. Some other little headcanon things you many notice. This should only line up with canon and itself.**

**Enjoy the heartbreaking sadness!**

* * *

Sophie wiped her eyes again, not caring that the handkerchief was as soaked as her sleeves. It would probably stain if she didn't change her clothes, but she didn't care

Four.

Bloody.

Freaking.

Thrice.

Blasted.

Months.

Months.

And Keefe hadn't moved. Not. Even. Blinked. Elwin said he was perfectly fine, just sleeping. Every Empath they'd consulted said his emotions were perfectly level, just sleeping. She and Fitz had poured their energy into searching his mind for anything, any hint of life, any reassurance that he really was just sleeping.

If it weren't for the fact that she could see his chest rise and fall and feel his heartbeat every time she checked his pulse, she would have assumed he was dead.

The Council had told her they had one last option. They'd made it extremely clear that this could only be done once and there was no telling what would happen. This person they knew could either help Keefe, or she could raze the Lost Cities to the ground. There was no way of telling.

They knew it wasn't soporodine or any other sedative. There was no reason for him to stay unconscious. So hopefully whoever the Council was going to contact woke up on the right side of the bed.

A gentle hand removed the soaked handkerchief from her hand and replaced it with a dry one.

"Hey Fitz."

"Hey." He rubbed her shoulder, silently asking permission to hug her. She stood, leaning into his embrace, but finding herself with no more tears left.

"Do you think this is going to work?"

"It has to. We're out of options. If this doesn't work, then…"

"Then we lose Keefe."

He squeezed her tightly. "That isn't going to happen."

"Did the Council tell you if they wanted us there?"

"I think they're coming here. They will want you downstairs though."

"I guess."

There was a light knock on the door and Linh called softly, "They're here and waiting for you."

Sophie took a deep breath and wiped her eyes again, glancing at Keefe's still form. "I hate to leave him alone."

Fitz pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I'll stay with him."

Sophie sighed, squeezing the fresh handkerchief in her hands. She followed Linh out to the vortinator in the hall. The gut-wrenching spinning no longer bothered her. She'd endured it far more times than she'd admit.

From her mother's reaction, she looked horrible, but Sophie felt no inclination to change that. Whatever bedhead she had, she'd probably had worse.

Outside, all twelve Councillors were waiting, along with Alden, Della, Biana, Dex, Tam, and Lord Cassius.

"So how do we summon this person?" Her voice was hoarse and strange from disuse.

Councillor Emery cleared his throat. "We already have. If she wants to come, she'll meet us here. If not, we have no way of making her come or contacting her again."

An uncomfortable silence fell over them. Sophie was starting to think all hope was lost when a blaze of fire split the sky and a gold dragon, whose wingspan was easily over a hundred feet, launched itself through a flaming portal and landed with a huge blast of air in front of them. The woman on its back jumped off, flames flashing and sparking in the air around her.

"Councillor Emery, this had better be important!"


	2. Two

All of the Councillors went down on one knee and after a few seconds, everyone else followed suit. The woman appeared to sense the general melancholy air and the fire around her dissipated, allowing Sophie to see her more clearly.

Her long red hair that hung to her hips was swept behind gracefully pointed ears that extended farther than any Ancient's Sophie had ever seen. She carried a quiver full of arrows on her back next to a bow. Her hand was on the sword in her belt. The armour she wore was understated and reminded Sophie of the Elves of Mirkwood. Her dragon did not appear to be aggressive, but most everyone was shooting it frightened glances.

"Well, maybe this is worth my time. Get your backsides out of the mud and tell me what I'm doing here."

Everyone scrambled to stand. Emery went to explain, but the woman's gaze snapped to Lord Cassius and she held up a finger to quiet the Councillor.

"It happened, didn't it." It wasn't a question, but Emery nodded.

The strange woman's piercing gaze found Sophie and her eyes narrowed. "You're the Moonlark, eh?"

She nodded.

"Iltaurielle. Where's the boy?"

"Keefe?"

"Is that his name? I never found out."

Lord Cassius straightened and puffed out his chest. "I am Lord Cassius, Keefe's father. I-"

"I know all about you, peacock." Iltaurielle walked over to her dragon and left her weapons hanging on hooks on her saddle. "I don't need the explanation. I'm here to help the kid. As soon as I've done that, I'll be out of your probably fake blond hair."

Her brusque manner left no room for any reply, so Sophie led her indoors to the vortinator. The Ancient took one look at it and said, "There's no chance we could take the stairs, is there?"

Sophie shrugged. "He's on floor 156, so you can if you want."

"One hundred fifty sixth floor, you say? I can get us up there easily enough." She clenched her fist and raised it above her head. Sophie shot into the air and landed on the vortinator at the floor 156. "Here we are. Which room?"

Sophie pointed.

"I see."

Sophie knocked on the door and stepped inside. Fitz was twisting the damp handkerchief in his hands, staring at the floor. He looked up when they came inside.

"Is this the person who's going to fix this?"

Iltaurielle looked at Keefe and her face became incredibly sad. Brusque manner gone, she whispered. "There is no fixing this." She walked over to him gently grasping his wrist and examining the veins. "You should have called me as soon as it happened. I can wake him, but little more. I thought I had the key to undoing such horrific damage. But it won't work on him."

"What do you mean it won't work?" Sophie's long-numb emotions rose is a swell of anger. "_What do you mean it won't work_?"

"I said I can wake him up. But I can't heal him. Nothing short of the Almighty God coming down and cleansing this boy's blood of the shadow will heal him! I know that isn't what you wanted to hear, but that is the hard truth." She tied her hair back, eyes haunted. "Do you want me to wake him?"

Sophie sagged against Fitz, trying not to cry as the reality of their dark situation struck her without a buffer. "Yes. I want Keefe back. I want him back, whatever it takes."

Fitz held her tightly. "Whatever you need to do, do it."

Sophie squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shut out the strange, haunting language this Ancient elf was using. Her Polyglot sense was turning the words over, ripping them apart and yet they made no sense, untranslatable.

When Iltaurielle stopped, she set a hand on Sophie's shoulder. "It is done. He will wake within the day. What I have done is irreversible. I will leave another single-use communicator. Use it wisely."

Sophie nodded and returned to her post in the chair by Keefe's bedside. He hadn't changed, save for subtle lines on his face forming. She didn't have the strength to send a telepathic call, but she found relief in the fact that she would have her friend back. Maybe she could start putting the pieces back together.

Others started filing into the room over the next hour. Lord Cassius apparently had important business. Councillor Oralie stood in the corner, citing the need for an Empath when he woke. Tam stayed in another corner, distubed by the abnormal shadows and high concentration of them. Biana, Dex, and Linh sat cross-legged on the floor in a circle with Fitz and Della, cheating each other in a tense round of some elven card game. Marella sat on the arm of Sophie's chair, keeping a small ball of Everblaze wrapped around one hand. The strange whispers of the yellow flame unsettled her, but Sophie knew Iltaurielle had given Marella information she didn't have.

Dex threw down his cards in defeat and muttered something. Della sighed, setting hers down, and Linh collected the center pile of the wooden coins they were using to bet. Biana shot her a look, not helping the tense atmosphere.

Oralie kept glancing between the flames being shaped in Marella's hand and the shadows forming weapons in Tam's. She twisted her hands and tried to shrink back into her corner, out of sight.

A few hours later, Alden joined them and after exchanging cheerless greetings, he joined the circle and soon won back all of the bounty from Linh, supposedly through fair play.

It had been about five hours since the strange Ancient left when the first sign came. Sophie had been occasionally giving a shallow delve into Keefe's mind whenever she felt the strength and will to risk disappointment again. She reached out and through the grey, felt a flicker of light. Like a small thing, naive, and young, taking its first steps into the world.

She quickly retreated, standing sharply.

Marella startled, nearly dropping the flame in her hand, but kept it from falling. Dex, catching the flash of light at the edge of his vision, dropped his cards and looked up. The others turned from their game. Tam stilled the shadowvapor in his hands.

"Did something happen?" Oralie murmured. She was now seated, but still tense.

"I felt something." Sophie whispered. "His mind's waking up. Slowly, but he's coming back.

There were small twitches and movement as the expression on his face changed slowly from one of utter peace to contorting in pure agony. Icy blue eyes flew open and with them Sophie's hope.

And then all hope flew from the room as a horrible, piercing scream tore from Keefe's lips. His back arched and he fell against his bed. Sophie reached out to calm him, but as soon as her finger touched his skin, he let out another agonized cry and threw himself away from her, which caused a third tortured wail.

When he could speak, the pain and fear in his voice made her sick.

"Sophie, it _hurts_, it _hurts_! Make it stop, _please_, **_make it stop_**!"

**Teeheehee.**

**Review for a tidbit from the next chapter.**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	3. Three

**This is not going to be a happy story. There is no happy ending. You probably figured that out, but anyone hoping for a fix-it, there's a story recommendation at the end of this chapter.**

* * *

Sophie squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out Keefe's cries. Nothing they could do was easing his pain or putting him to sleep. Ro had suggested soporodine, but the amount they had calculated as necessary could easily be lethal.

All they knew for certain was that Keefe had described it as feeling like every cell in his body were being torn apart and stitched back together over and over and over.

She would be in the room next to him, but hearing him scream again and again had ripped her heart to pieces and she had to get away.

Eventually, slowly, the screaming stopped and faded to gasping breaths. Sophie stood, poking her head into the room.

Marella had her hands, coated with Everblaze flame, pressed to Keefe's chest, but she wasn't burning him. Instead, he lay limp, eyes closed in relief.

"Keefe?"

His eyes opened and his head fell to the side. "Hey, Sophie."

"Is it any better?"

"S-sort of. I can breathe now and my heartbeat doesn't hurt."

Marella was shaking slightly with effort. "Before she left, the lady handed me a ball of Everblaze and told me what to do. I didn't believe her, but the situation got kind of desperate. Did you guys make a decision out there?"

Sophie nodded. "There are people grumbling, but we decided to risk it."

"Couldn't it put him in a coma again?"

"With the data the physicians have and all the people they had analyze it, I think they said it would just knock him out for twelve hours. But the doses will have to be twenty-four hours apart at least. They don't want too much in his system at once." She looked around, noticing that everyone else in the room had left. "Where did everyone go?"

"I think it got to be too much for them, like you."

"Okay."

"Sophie? Can we talk telepathically?" Keefe whispered, voice becoming strained. "Or at least me?"

"Yeah, sure." She reached out and formed the connection.

_Oh, this is so much better._

_I didn't realize how much you didn't sound like you until now._

Marella glanced at Sophie, fear in her eyes. "I need to put the fire out. I'm not sure I can control it for much longer. Can you tell him?"

_I can hear her just fine. I'll be okay. It'll hurt more, but as long as I lay as still as possible, it should be minimal._

"He said it's okay."

Marella's shoulders slumped in relief and she removed her hands, letting the fire die away. Keefe tensed and Sophie heard the whispered curses in the back of his mind. But he didn't scream this time.

_Sophie?_

"Yeah?"

_Do you think it'll get better? Stop hurting eventually?_

"I…" She sighed. "I don't know. What I heard sounded like a chronic pain disorder."

Marella looked confused. "What's that?"

"It's a human malady. I don't know much about it. Nobody I knew had it. But I know that people who have them are in pain constantly. A lot of them take medication to deal with it and sometimes it helps, but most of them are in constant pain. There's lots of ads for things that are supposed to make it go away permanently, but most of the time, it's for the rest of their life."

_So I could be like this… forever?_

Sophie nodded.

_Did you hear me? I'm assuming you nodded, which I can't see, by the way. My eyes are closed._

"Yeah."

_Yeah to what?_

"Both."

Marella stood. "I…should be going home. I'll see you guys soon."

"Okay. Bye, Marella."

Keefe gave her a weak wave.

After Marella left, Sophie slumped in the chair, twisting her handkerchief in her hand, as had become her new nervous habit.

_Your emotions are awful level._

"What do you mean?" Sophie had been certain he would pick up on the gut-wrenching panic and fear roiling in her mind.

_I'm not getting anything. At all. And I couldn't feel anything from Marella earlier either._

Horror rose in her throat. "Can you feel this?" She let her emotions swell, thinking about all the whispered words, furtive glances and hugs that lasted a little too long, certain Keefe would start teasing her about all the Fitzphie.

_Feel what? What am I supposed to be feeling?_

Sophie paled, reaching out and laying her fingers on Keefe's wrist. He hissed in pain. "Can you feel my emotions at all?"

_No… Sophie, what's going on?_

"I-I don't know. I'll be right back. I'm going to get Elwin." Sophie ran out of the room and yelled for the ground floor. The vortinator spun her down and she bolted into the sitting room that was being used as the physician's storage.

Elwin jumped, nearly dropping whatever it was he was holding. "Sophie, you can't startle me like that!"

"I'm sorry, but I need you upstairs, right now. Can you tell the difference between a Talentless and someone with an ability?"

"Did something happen? I can, but I've never needed to. That kind of thing doesn't become apparent until after the manifesting window closes, so it's not very useful."

She tried not to go into full panic mode. "I need you to check Keefe. He couldn't feel my emotions, even with physical contact."

"Oh no." Elwin grabbed a bag and haphazardly shoved a few elixirs and things in it. Sophie followed him to the vortinator.

"Floor 156!"

Sophie didn't bother with the railing, unlike Elwin, who stumbled forward when the stairs started and stopped moving.

Keefe was visibly paler. His eyes flicked back and forth between them, silently begging for information.

Elwin snapped a bubble around Keefe's chest and head, varying the color several times. "This isn't possible."

"What's not possible?"

"His ability is…gone."

* * *

Keefe looked fed up and summoned the strength for a terrified whisper. "What?"

Sophie realized she'd broken the telepathic connection by accident and quickly reached out again.

_Sophie, please tell me what is going on._

"Give me a sec. Elwin, what do you mean 'his ability is gone'?"

Elwin was white as a sheet. "I can't see much in detail, but I know the section of the brain that is responsible for abilities and skills and it is gone. Completely. I know what it looks like in a Talentless brain and this is not it."

_Part of my brain is gone!?_

"Yeah, I'm confused too."

"Are you talking to me?" Elwin flashed another orb around Keefe's head, then sighed.

Sophie shook her head. "Keefe said it's too painful for him to talk out loud so he talks telepathically to me. Neither of us get it."

"I can't explain it. Are you able to call the crazy lady again?"

"She said she left a communicator, but I'm afraid to call her. She's unsettling. Whatever language she was speaking, I couldn't understand it. My abilities are working perfectly fine, I tested them. And I thought elves didn't do violence, but she had a bow and sword and carried herself like she knew how to use them."

_She sounds interesting._

"Not good interesting right?"

_No, of course not. Interesting like Vespera._

"She's a lot nicer than Vespera. And I think she's a Pyrokinetic. Marella said Iltaurielle handed her a ball of Everblaze like it was no big deal. Which is really weird because she wasn't creepy, just…really unsettling."

Elwin had apparently given up on trying to decipher their conversation. "I'd call her again and get some more information out of her before you let her leave again."

Sophie shuddered. "There is no letting her leave. If she wants to go, she goes. Councillor Emery tried to stop her and she took the opportunity to chew him out for something for fifteen minutes. If she's important enough to treat at the Council however she likes, I'd rather stay away from her."

_Yikes. But she healed me, right? She can't be that bad._

"Well, yeah. And she kept making barbed comments at your dad and there was nothing he could do about it. She refused to call him by his name. She just referred to him as the peacock."

_I think I might like this lady._

Elwin hoisted his bag over his shoulder. "I'll go see what I can do about contacting her again."

Sophie nodded.

Keefe sighed and looked over at her. _I don't think this is what my mom had in mind._

"I think your mom is clinically insane."

_I don't disagree. Can you tell me more about the lady? I'm curious._

"Well, she said her name was Iltaurielle. She had really long red hair and she was _really_ Ancient. Her ears went back here, almost to the back of her head." She showed him.

_Oh wow. She's got to be older than most Ancients and that's saying something._

"Her fingernails were like an inch long and sharpened into claws. And she rode a giant gold dragon. It could talk."

_No way! And I missed this?_

"It wasn't really exciting. He just asked where it was okay to nap. The lady knew who you were." Sophie shivered, remembering the cold feeling in her head when she'd locked eyes with Iltaurielle. "And who I was."

_What do you mean?_

"Before we could explain anything, she looked at me, asked me if I was the moonlark, and when I said yes, she introduced herself and asked where you were."

_That's weird. I have no idea who she is. I wonder if she knows my mom._

"She might. She didn't know your name though. I'll ask."

"Ask what?"

Sophie jumped. The woman, Iltaurielle, was standing across from her where she certainly hadn't been before.

"How did you get in here? Elwin just left to try to contact you."

"I never left. I've been sitting on the roof dropping arrows on the goblin downstairs to see how close I can get without hitting him. You have questions for me, I presume?"

Sophie nodded, choosing to ignore the fact the woman was shooting at the goblins. "Do you know his mom?"

"Lady Gisela? I've jailed her three times, she's got at least five warrants out for her arrest, and anyone who turns her in can name their rewards. I'd say I know her."

Keefe was silent. Sophie managed to ask, "What for?"

Iltaurielle counted them off in her fingers. "Two counts for trying to steal shadowflux and quintessence from the Point of Elements, one for child endangerment, another for destruction of property, yet another for illegal experimentation, there's one for trespassing, and the last one is for stealing a dragon hatchling. More recently, there's a second illegal genetic experimentation, smuggling, involuntary manslaughter, and three that were labelled 'general illegal shenanigans'."

Sophie had nothing to say. Keefe's thoughts scattered, and he wasn't able to condense them into a cohesive thought.

"I take it this is the first you've heard of it?"

Both of them nodded. Sophie asked, "How do you steal elements? How and why is that illegal?"

"Playing with the elements is not done lightly. They are very dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. The Point of Elements is somewhere anyone can summon the purest form of their element. Taking from it without an imperial warrant can be a capital crime. Had we known the purpose she intended it for, her punishment would have been much more severe. I'm not going into detail about a highly classified criminal's file. You had another question?"

Sophie nodded. "His ability is gone and we don't know what's going on."

"As I said, playing with the elements, especially the more dangerous ones, rarely has a positive outcome. Shadowflux rules the night, dark, and destruction. That crazy hag though she could counter the effects with quintessence and didn't realize that combining the two makes effectively liquid death. Not poison, liquid death. It cannot coexist with other powers, so it destroys them. Your kind insist on dividing them between abilities and skills, but both are eliminated." Iltaurille drew fire out of the air, letting it whisper across her fingers. "You've probably already discovered the excruciating pain."

Keefe's eyes took on an incredible sadness. _Can you ask her what's causing it?_

The Ancient snuffed out the fire. "It's the shadowflux attempting to bond with your cells. If it were just shadow, it would be an echo, as Miss Ruewen has experienced. But with two volatile and dangerous elements battling for space inside your body?" She shrugged. "You know what that feels like."

_She can hear me?_

"Of course I can. If you do not want your thoughts privy to the universe, you would do well to learn to either quiet your mind or learn to shield." She raised a russet eyebrow. "But now is not the time to question me about my abilities. Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Is there any way to fix this? Reverse any of the effects?" Sophie asked, having a hard time processing any of the information.

"With any form of permanence? No. We have scoured every known world and most unknown. Unless you want to extract the elements from every individual cell through and incredibly painful, strenuous and tedious process, the answer is no. Everblaze can counter the effects, but only in the areas where it is sitting directly against the skin. Assuming that is all, I'll leave a summary of what I discover over twenty-three years of research on the subject with the adults."

* * *

Sophie sighed and sat down on the front step, watching Iltaurielle leave for real this time. She'd been hoping the strange woman would have a cure or something similar to help Keefe. But even with many of the adults trying to coax more information out of her, all she'd said was that twenty years of research culminated into 'no'.

Keefe had been given a dose of soporodine and was currently asleep. She didn't know if she could wake him up by accident, but she didn't want to risk it. He needed as many pain-free hours as possible.

Sophie glanced up when the door opened. Lord Cassius walked out and away from Candleshade without giving her so much as a glance. He leapt away without a word. Confused, she stood up and went inside.

Her mother was running down the hall and stopped when she saw Sophie. "He left didn't he?"

"Yeah. Was I supposed to stop him?"

Edaline sighed. "We were making sure everyone was on the same page and when we told him that Keefe lost his ability and skills, he just went quiet and walked out. When Councillor Emery told him to return to his seat, he said he would never call a cripple his son."

Sophie cringed. "Oh no. Keefe's going to feel horrible about that."

"Don't tell him if you don't have to. He has enough to deal with." Edaline said. "The Council doesn't know what to do. The information we were able to find about chronic pain disorders was helpful, but not applicable to elves. We're trying our best, but…it's just not an elvin problem."

Sophie sighed. "I'm going to call Amy and see if she has any more information. Even if she doesn't, she can search the internet."

"Of course. Do you want me to let them know?"

"I don't know if the Council knows I contact Amy, so I'd rather not."

Edaline gave her a sad smile. "Are you okay?"

Sophie sighed. "I could be better. I'm worried about Keefe, but it's more feeling helpless. I know there's nothing I can do, but I still want to shake as much information as I can out of Iltaurielle even though I know that what I could come up with in a few weeks can't compare to twenty years of intensive research."

Her mother hugged her tightly. "Even if we can't cure it, it'll get better. We'll all get used to the new situation. Try not to worry as much as possible."

**So, Keefe has a chronic pain disorder. I only know one person with one and they are currently across the country, so any inaccuracies I am sorry for. If you haven't figured it already, this is not a happy story. You want a happy recovery story? Go read 'Stellarlune' by Sarcasticsnark13. It's in the same vein, but much happier.  
****Review for a tidbit from the next chapter!**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	4. Four

**Hi! So this took longer than normal, I couldn't figure out where to cut it off (There's like ten more pages worth of writing.) and I was talking to a friend who has a chronic pain disorder to make sure I wrote it accurately. I hope you find it worth the wait! Don't worry the next chapter of When Even Two Sparrows Fall is coming.**

* * *

Sophie sat slumped in her chair, listening to the adults talk. It was getting late and she didn't like it. Not that she'd ever admit to the adults, her parents included, that she had a previous arrangement she couldn't miss.

Finally, after what felt like hours but was probably less than thirty seconds, Councillor Emery got tired of the sound of his own voice and dismissed them.

Sophie tried not to seem in a rush, but bolted for the vortinator and yelled, "Rooftop!"

It spun her to the roof and she hoped none of the adults noticed her mad dash.

"I was starting to wonder if you weren't coming." Fitz was sitting on one of the marble benches.

Sophie sighed and sat down next to him. "I couldn't get out of the meeting. Sorry."

"Don't worry." Fitz fidgeted with his hands. "So, where do we start?"

"I don't know." She bit her lip. They had to get everything out in the open now, before it became a bigger problem.

"I can go first if you want."

"Okay."

Fitz took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I realize now that I was acting a bit snotty. I'm a Vacker and the golden child. Things usually work out for me the way I want them to. So when things don't work out and I can't make them work, I'm not sure how to handle that, and I didn't do it well.

"Alvar" -he bristled a little mentioning his brother- "gave me one piece of advice. He told me to be careful that I don't let my station in life get to my head. For once, he was right."

"I forgive you." She set a hand on his arm. "And I understand. It still hurt though."

"I realized that as soon as I left and realized what I'd said. I felt so stupid. My mom figured it out pretty quickly and since Biana was in the room and heard everything, she gave me a couple barbed sentences and didn't talk to me for the rest of the day. At first I tried to convince myself it wasn't that bad, but I went over it again and realized I screwed up big time."

Sophie winced. "Did your entire family chew you out?"

"Only Biana. But my dad was disappointed and my mom was just quiet."

"That's almost as bad."

Fitz started a few times before he replied. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

The look of utter shock on his face made it worth it. "You have no idea how long I have waited to use that!"

"Oh, no, it's funny, I get it. But seriously, I need to ask you something. I was thinking-"

"Always a good sign."

"Where are these comebacks coming from? You are never this witty!"

Sophie laughed. "Honestly, they're not mine. I'd started a book series called Ranger's Apprentice the year you found me. I never got through the first book. Amy remembered my human birthday and sent me the entire series. All twelve books, plus the three companion series. Which is like, another twelve. Al those books through some Black Swan secret channel. I've been reading them and Halt has been rubbing off on me."

"Halt?"

"He's very sarcastic and sharp-tongued. I'm borrowing his lines."

"I see." Fitz chuckled. "Do my mind loaning one to me?"

"Sure. But on to your very serious question."

"Yeah, about that." He suddenly looked more unsure than she had ever seen him. "Would it…would it be okay if we…if we tried again?"

"Hmm?"

Now that it was out there, his words came in a rush. "Our relationship. Could we try again? I know I messed up and I messed up bad, but I want to try again, if that's okay with you. Even if it doesn't work out, I want to be able to be there for you more than I can as a friend." He paused, gauging her reaction before continuing. "I know I asked before and you said just friends. I understand if that's all you want. It just hurts seeing you sitting there for hours and feeling like I shouldn't be there. Like I can't help you."

Sophie gently took his hand. "I'll have to think about it. That's not a no!" She forestalled his crushed expression. "It's a 'I have a lot on my plate right now and I need a bit to sort it out before adding something new.' But if you want to be there, even if you don't feel like it's appropriate with us just being friends, don't worry. I'm okay with that. I just don't want to deal with the potential drama of a full relationship right this moment. Let's get Keefe as settled as he can be and then maybe, take me out to dinner or something? It that okay?"

He face lit up and he smiled. "Yeah. That's okay. I have zero experience with actual dates though, so…"

"Don't worry about it for now. Besides, I miss the gifts."

"Oh! Do you want me to start doing that again?"

Sophie smiled. "That'd be great."

Fitz grinned, eyes sparkling. "On a different note, I was thinking of asking the Council if they could fudge my match results a bit. Just so you wouldn't have to worry."

"And if they don't?"

He sighed. "People will get over themselves. I have to decide which is more important to me, my position as the golden child in a golden family, or you." He hesitantly took her hands, gently squeezing. "Right now, it's you. If my standing in society becomes more important, you should find someone else, because I won't deserve you then."

Sophie felt blood rising in her cheeks and tears gather in her eyes. "That is the sweetest, most romantic thing I've ever heard or read. Are you trying to make me cry?" She dabbed at her eyes with the now ever-present handkerchief.

"Oh, no, of course not, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. These are the first happy tears I've cried in, six months or something."

"I have something else to talk about, but we should do that later. Is Dex coming over?"

"Later, yeah, He was going to teach me the elvin version of poker. We were going to play him against Keefe and I."

"Do you mind asking him what he thinks about my sister?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Sure?"

"Thanks. Does next week work for you? I've got a bunch of stuff I have to do. Something about graduating to the elite levels. My dad wouldn't tell me."

Sophie squeezed his hands back. "Don't worry. Next week, same spot?"

"Yeah. I'll show up when I can."

"Okay." She smiled and decided to take a risk. She stood on her tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek.

Fitz made the most adorable little squeak and a blush rose high on his cheeks. His breathing quickened and for a moment she was afraid he was going to pass out.

"You okay there?"

"Yeah." His voice was quiet and breathy. He dropped her hands and left, walking as if he were floating on air.

Sophie waited until she thought he was down and stepped onto the vortinator. "Floor 155!"

She stepped off into a corridor. The floor below the one Keefe was staying on had been designated as crash rooms for anyone who was too tired to leap home or didn't want to leave and just needed a quick power nap.

The one she'd picked was small, for Candleshade. It was still nicely sized and had a bed with her stack of books on it. The first three books in the Ranger's Apprentice series and the Brotherband series sat in a 'read' pile on the bedside table. The fourth, The Battle for Skandia, had a bookmark about halfway through and sat on her pillow. She picked it up and flipped it open.

She was Svengal's niece, fifteen, blonde and pretty. "May I carry your arrows for you, Ranger?"

As depressing as the present was, Sophie was beginning to wonder how she had survived without books like this as she devoured the world of Rangers, so similar and yet unlike her own.

A sharp knock on her door broke her trance.

"Are you kidding me? I'm in the middle of a really tense scene! Can this wait like five minutes?"

Dex laughed. "You say something like that every time I interrupt you."

"Yeah, cause it's true." Sophie sighed and replaced her bookmark, leaving the book for another time.

Dex was holding a small wooden box with a bronze clasp. "This is my dad's game set. He said to be super careful with it. Apparently it's really old."

"Do you not have your own?"

"No. I used Linh's last time. So, do you want to go up to Keefe's room or here?"

Sophie stepped outside, closing the door behind her. "If he's awake, he'll be glad for the entertainment. If he's asleep, we'll leave him alone."

"Okay." Dex tucked the box under his arm. "How much do you know about the game?"

"Not much. I've seen it played. Linh offered to teach me, but I didn't feel up to it. And Tam warned me she cheats."

"Where is Tam anyway? I haven't seen him around." Dex offered her a hand up onto the vortinator and yelled. "Floor 156!"

The spin was short and they stepped off. Sophie shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't been outside for a long time. I think he's been working with Glimmer, trying to find her somewhere to stay. People are wary of her and Tiergan doesn't have space."

"The Black Swan keep sending people to Tiergan whenever they don't have space. You'd think he'd get tired of it after a while."

"Maybe she can stay at Everglen. They have guest rooms. Although they may not like that." Sophie opened the door to Keefe's room and poked her head in. Even though his eyes were closed, his breathing was faster than if he were asleep. "Hey, Keefe, can we come in?"

He gave her a shaky thumbs up. Sophie formed a telepathic connection.

_Yeah. That's fine. I'm still a little woozy, but the sleep was nice_.

Sophie opened the door all the way and sat on the floor. "I know the game's called Conqistor, but that is as far as my knowledge goes."

Dex sat across from her and set the game box next to him. "The game has two sets of pieces, the cards and the tokens." He set two decks of gold-backed cards down, one next to him and the other next to her, and dumped the tokens in the middle. "We'll play rounds and after each round, one of us will get tokens. We keep going until one of us runs out of cards to play. The person with the most points wins."

"And the tokens are the points?"

_Not quite. _Keefe said. _Each round, you draw ten cards and select five to play. Dex will do the same. You're only allowed to play one of each card per round. You have five types of cards: gatherers, guards, thieves, mages, and soldiers. Each deck also has one conqistor._

"Okay. So what do the cards do?"

Dex arranged all the tokens so their plain side was facing up. "Did Keefe tell you about the tokens or just basic gameplay?"

"Uh, a bit of basic gameplay and what the cards are called. What do they do?"

Dex picked up some of his cards and set down five of them. "This one is a gatherer. They allow you to pick up tokens. There's different values for the cards; the number tells you how many tokens you can pick up with that card. Gatherers are defeated by a soldier with a higher attack number than the gatherer's defense number." He pointed to where each number was located.

"This doesn't seem like an elvin game."

Dex pushed the gatherer card back into his deck. "It's an ogre game, meant to teach strategy. But it's fun and apparently a relative of mine somewhere set up an ille gal betting ring with this game. That's why my dad has such a nice set. I believe it's actually ogre-made." He started shuffling her deck. "This card, the guard," -he pointed- " protects your tokens from the thieves. He doesn't have an attack number, just a defense. If it's higher than the thief's attack number, the guard wins and the thief is discarded. Vice versa is also true. If the numbers are equal, both cards go back in the deck and nothing happens. That applies to any number contest.

"These ones are thieves. They steal your opponent's tokens. The amount is this number here. Mages look like this one here. They negate all the other cards in play, both yours and all your opponents'. When there's more than one mage card in play, then there's a lot of complicated rules, but we can leave that out." Dex set hers down and shuffled his deck thoroughly. "The last cards are soldiers. They prevent gatherers from getting tokens."

"Okay." Sophie picked up her deck. It was heavier than she expected and the inlaid gold on the backs of the cards was chipped in some places. "Do gatherers get discarded after a round?"

"Yes. All cards get discarded after each round except for when there's an equal number thing."

"Okay. Is one token equal to one point?"

Dex drew ten cards from his deck ands set them facedown in front of him. "That's a bit complicated. Some of the tokens, they're marked, are worth a point. Some aren't marked and they aren't worth anything, but you can't tell them apart from the ones that are. Then there are negative tokens, there are some that are worth a certain amount to the defense of your pile, and some that give certain cards boosts. All the special ones are worth one point unless they're negative."

_Dexy forgot the conqistor. There's only one per deck and you can play it to get all the tokens in the middle._

"What happens if two are played at the same time?"

_Everbody loses._

"Cool."

"Keefe explained the conquister?"

"Yep. I'm ready to start playing. Draw ten cards and pick five to play?"

"Uh huh." Dex picked up his and set half faceup in a discard pile. "You can't play duplicate cards, like two gatherers of the same value or two thieves with the same value."

Sophie drew the first ten cards in her deck. Three gatherers, a mage and six thieves.

_Yeesh. That's a good mid- to late-game hand, but terrible for the first round. Keefe said._

"How do you know what cards I have?"

_I can hear you thinking about them. And see over your shoulder._

Dex looked up. "I assume you're talking to Keefe?"

Sophie nodded. "He's helping me."

Play the gatherers and two thieves. The cards go in stages.

She nodded again and went to set the cards down. She paused. "Do I put them faceup or down?"

"In a game with more players, everyone would wait before setting their cards down. I'm not worried about all those kinds of rules."

It took Sophie several practice rounds to understand the game. Keefe made a point of either helping her or repeating slightly modified rules. More often than not, he'd give her a nonexistent rule and then Dex would have to spend five minutes explaining to her why it wasn't a thing while glaring at Keefe for messing her up.

Dex still beat her by a mile, and he'd told her afterward he'd removed the conqistor from his deck to give her a chance.

Sophie jumped, almost dropping her deck as she put it away when her Imparter chimed from her pocket. It was a message from Fitz saying, _'Did you ask him yet?'_

"So Dex?"

"Yeah?" He wasn't paying too much attention, focusing on putting the game away.

"What do you think about Biana?"

He stopped, slowly putting the tokens in his hand in the round slot. "Well, she's a good friend. Why do you ask?"

Sophie decided to be honest. "Fitz is curious. I don't know why."

"Well…" He sighed. "I mean, objectively, she's stunning. She's a Vacker, a member of the Black Swan, and she's a really good friend. That's probably not what Fitz is looking for, but…"

"You don't want me to share it with him?"

"Yeah, I'd rather not." He closed the box carefully and picked it up. "See you later Keefe."

He managed a weak wave.

"Walk with me?" Dex murmured.

"Okay." _I'll be right back, Keefe._

As soon as she'd closed the door behind them, Dex sighed. "There's no one else around, right?"

"There shouldn't be."

"Okay." He took a deep breath. "Please don't tell Fitz. I actually do like Biana. She's sweet, she's witty, and she's absolutely gorgeous. But there's no way we'll be matched and for two siblings to both be in bad matches? That would destroy the entire Vacker family. I don't want to bring that on her."

"But you do like her?"

"Yeah. Yeah I do." A soft smile played on his lips. "But please don't say anything. I'm just nervous after what happened last time."

Sophie smiled and rubbed his arm. "Don't worry. One, Biana's way better at that stuff than I am. Two, there is totally a chance you'll be matched. You're Dex Dizznee. You've made tons of super cool gadgets, you've saved all of our lives. After everything that's happened, there is totally a chance. You're not Talentless. It's fifty-fifty, just like everyone else."

He grinned. "Thanks. So if Fitz asked you to ask me, does that mean you guys are…?"

She sighed. "Friendship repaired, yes. Dating, no. we're still waiting. I need to deal with some stuff first before I feel comfortable adding something new. But we're friends again. And I think I broke him by accident."

"What'd you do?"

"All I did was kiss his cheek."

Dex laughed. "You do not know the power you possess. He's probably going to be floating on air for like a week."

"I hope not. Don't we have to go back to school?"

"Oh yeah." He sighed. "The semester starts again soon."

Sophie sighed. "I don't want to go back to school. That means Keefe will be alone for most of the day and if he's not asleep it'll be tough for him. He's a people person."

"Yeah. And this would have been Level Seven for him. First year in the elite levels. Keefe told me it made his dad a little too happy, he was secretly proud of it. Until this happened."

"I'm more worried about me though. Because of my track record, I'm getting an intensive schedule with more classes and no study hall. I'm also not allowed to get detention, instead I'm supposed to take that time to do homework and stuff."

Dex looked confused. "But why?"

"I have no idea. But it won't be fun, especially if I'm trying to visit Keefe as much as possible."

They walked in silence until Dex realized they had just kept walking and were making a loop around the floor.

"I should probably go home. You're gonna update Amy?"

"Yeah. See you later Dex."

* * *

**That's what I got for you! Hope you enjoyed it and drop a review before you go! I love reading them and anyone who reviews gets a teaser from the next chapter. (If you don't want one, just let me know.)**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	5. Five

After he left, Sophie decided to go up to the rooftop garden again to call Amy.

Amy looked exhausted when she answered, but brightened immediately. "Hey! You caught me at a great time! But things are probably not so great for you, since my Imparter is for extreme emergencies."

"Actually, this doesn't really count as an extreme emergency, but it's a human problem in an elf, so we didn't know what to do."

"What did you guys do now?"

"Well…" Sophie started at the beginning and told her what had happened in Loanmore. "So now we think Keefe has a chronic pain disorder."

"Yeesh. Poor guy. Keefe's the blond right?"

"Yeah."

"I could probably teach him sign language. There's a couple deaf kids in my book club, so I know sign language pretty well."

"Moving his hands is super painful for him. But Tam's learning how to extract shadowflux, so maybe we could make it work. But as time passes, it might be useful. When did you join a book club?"

She shrugged. "When I bought all those books for you, Mom and Dad thought I was suddenly super into reading and put me in a book club. I'm not huge on it, but I've made friends, including the two deaf girls. They helped me learn sign language and I've been taking an online class. We've been reading The Lord of the Rings. It's kind of boring and hard to get through, but we can joke behind the teacher's back since she doesn't know sign language and won't learn."

"Be careful not to get in trouble."

"Don't worry. Hey, if you want I can get some movies and stuff for him to watch. If he's able to use his hands, maybe an Xbox or Nintendo or something for him to play on. Since you guys can't be there all the time. And it's not like you can't afford it."

"That sounds great, Amy. We'd have to fiddle with some stuff though."

"I can help if you want me to. But I have to do some homework now. See you later alligator."

Sophie smiled at the farewell that had been commonplace among her human relatives when she was younger. "In a while crocodile." She ended the call and tucked the Imparter in her pocket. It rang as soon as she did.

Sophie huffed and answered it. Her mother Edaline looked a little more haggard than usual, she attributed this to the new T-rex they'd had brought in and had to acclimate to Verdi.

"Hey, sweetheart, how are you?"

"I'm pretty good. Keefe's doing as well as he can and Dex taught me how to play conquistor. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but it's a fun game."

She smiled, retying her hair. "If you want to play it more, we might have to get you your own deck."

"Maybe."

"There's an impromptu Black Swan meeting and they want you there. They're at Havenfield right now."

Sophie sighed. "I don't want to leave Keefe alone. Ro will be back in two days. I just have to keep him entertained until then. He doesn't do super well being by himself for long periods of time."

"The Imparter will work. It's not really problems they need your input on, but the Collective has been scattered and now they're all coming back to update each other. And that includes Keefe's condition. Everyone's been worried about him."

"Do the Black Swan have the ability to contact Iltaurielle?"

"No. Almost everyone is wary of her, so the Council will handle that."

"Okay. I'll head back downstairs. Amy offered to send some human movies and video games to help keep him occupied."

"Did you hail Amy about this?"

Sophie realized her slip-up and cringed. "Yeah. I wanted to find out if she had any information on chronic pain disorders that could be useful."

"Okay. Be sure to let the Council or at least the physicians know if you have anything new."

Sophie nodded and ended the call. She waited a few seconds to see if it would ring again and took the vortinator back down to Keefe's room.

His eyes were closed again, but he opened them and looked over at her when she walked in. Sophie formed the telepathic connection, worrying since he was struggling to breath.

"The Black Swan is meeting up. They want an update on you."

_I'm popular today._ His voice had lost its playfulness.

"Are you feeling okay?"

_The pain fluctuates. Right now it's worse. Not that there's much worse for it to get. I desperately want to curl up and cry, but I know that will only make it worse._

"Is there anything I can do?"

_Since Marella's not here, no. It's nice to know you're there though. I can feel your mind against mine -not to be weird!- but it's the only way you can touch me that doesn't explode in pain._

"Anytime. Since school is starting up again, I'll be able to work with Tiergan on extending the time and distance I can hold a telepathic link. I may not always be able to answer you through it, but you'll always be able to talk to me. Ro's going to be back soon too. Her dad sent her to 'break in'" -she put the words in air quotes- "some new recruits since you were in a coma and she was bored. She'll be back in less than thirty six hours."

_That will be nice. But she's not a Telepath and I don't have another way of communicating that's not painful. And we can't exactly have a Telepath around every minute of the day._

"Amy had something that might work. How painful is moving your fingers?"

_All the bones broken would be an improvement._

"How about relative to talking?"

_Probably better._

"Deaf humans use a kind of communication called sign language. You use signs you make with your hands to represent words." Sophie racked her brain for the three or so signs she learned in preschool. "I know a few signs, but not many. I didn't know anyone who was deaf."

_I'm assuming being deaf means they can't hear? I didn't want to ask because of the risk of sounding stupid._

"Don't worry. It's another human malady, so I wouldn't expect elves to use the same word in the same context. I know the sign that means 'I love you' and how to sign the alphabet. Do elves use the Latin alphabet? Twenty-six characters?"

_I think so. We can probably make it work._

"Okay. This is the sign for 'I love you'. That's the only one I know for sure. Hold you hand out and bend your middle and ring fingers down, keeping the others up." She held up her hand, showing him what it looked like."

_I think I can do that. It doesn't look too hard._ Keefe held up a shaky hand and slowly bent the fingers down. He couldn't make the full sign, but it was a good effort before his arm collapsed onto the bed. _Never mind. That's harder than I thought it would be. Do you mind if you just talk? I'm running out of energy, but I can't sleep._

"Sure. How does a Fitzphie update sound?"

_I would tease you if I had the energy. But it sounds interesting._

"I almost wish you would tease me again. You sound so weak. It's awful."

_Hey, when I'm having a better day, I'm sure I'll tease you plenty. Just not right now._

"Okay. So Fitz and I had a couple conversations about our sort-of-relationship-sort-of-not situation. The first time was a few days after Loanmore. I agreed to be friends again. The second time was yesterday. We're sort of back on track with our friendship. I agreed to trying our relationship again once life is calmer. Dex has a crush on Biana."

_No freaking way._ Dexy_ has a crush on_ Biana?

"Yeah. He doesn't want me to tell Fitz though. But Dex and Biana definitely have potential to be a thing."

_Wow. I kind of want to help them get together._

"Dex is afraid of what would happen though. He doesn't want to say anything because he's afraid of what would happen if he and Biana didn't get matched."

_He's got nothing to worry about. Biana had a better chance of being matched with me, but I'm kind of…out of the running._

"Hey don't feel bad." She went to rub him arm in reassurance, but pulled back and settled for a light caress of her mind.

He didn't respond right away. _It just feels like… another count against me. I'm completely bedridden, can only communicate telepathically, and I'm basically useless._

Sophie wanted to counter that, but she couldn't think of anything. Keefe felt her hesitance.

_You figured it out too. They're aren't many things elves consider important. All the things that are, I don't have or can't do. I can't finish Foxfire, I have no ability or skills, which is worse than being Talentless. And even though I'm probably still technically matchable, my DNA is so badly damaged that I wouldn't be matched with anyone anyway._

"How do you know your DNA is damaged?"

_Iltaurielle told me. She tried to be nice, but there isn't really any way to be nice with that information. She said there are massive chunks missing in some places and I'm generally lacking a lot of genetic information. I basically shouldn't be alive. Sophie felt the double meaning behind that sentence._

"But you're still important." Sophie tried to find words that would help. "You're still our friend and we love you. All of us. There's a quote from a human movie that I watched growing up. 'Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.'"

_Do I really count though?_

"Considering the girl who says the quote is talking about a mutated alien monster who destroys her bedroom, her house, and almost gets her killed over the course of the movie, yeah. She's not talking about biological family. Besides, you're one of my best friends. I couldn't have done what I've done without you. You're my Ohana, just like the rest of our friends. And you're their Ohana too."

_I like that word. Ohana._

"Yeah." She felt a tickle in the back of her mind. Fitz was contacting her briefly to let her know that he and some others were there.

His voice still sounded dreamy and she wondered if what Dex had said was true._ Is Keefe okay with more visitors? There's me, Biana, Tam, Linh, and Juline. Dex isn't here because he forgot to clean his room and apparently it looks like Verdi had a party in it. Marella's with her parents, trying to see if the information about chronic pain disorders could help her mom._

_Okay. He said his pain fluctuates and right now it's worse, so maybe. He's been talking pretty consistently though. And he's starting to sound like himself. I'd prefer teasing, upbeat Keefe over depressed, upset Keefe, but at least he sounds like Keefe._

Fitz's mind brightened. _Good. I'm glad he's feeling better._

Sophie and Fitz withdrew from each other. "Do you feel well enough for visitors? Fitz and some other people are here."

_Yeah, I heard your whole conversation. I'm feeling a little better. Not by much, but better. Well enough for visitors. Marella's not coming?_

"Not until later."

_Okay_.

There was a light knock at the door and Sophie opened it with a flick of her wrist. Fitz stepped in.

"Hey Sophie." Fitz gave her a small wave.

_What's wrong with him? He looks like he's a bit drunk._

Sophie chose to answer telepathically. _All I did was kiss him on the cheek!_

_Yikes. He's got it bad. Not that I'd be any better off._

She acknowledged him, but didn't answer. "Hey Fitz. Where's everyone else?"

"Downstairs still. They're making sure everyone's updated. I'm not a Team Valiant member or an adult, so I'm not required to stay. And I wanted to say hi."

_Aww, is poor Fitzy being left out?_

Sophie smiled and stood. "Okay. But before you say anything you might regret, Keefe can hear us. I know he looks asleep, but he isn't."

_Nope! Still alive over here!_

"He's also keeping a running commentary in my head."

Fitz chuckled. "Might as well give him something to talk about, huh?

There was something about his voice she could not place, but it sent her heart from calm to flutter-mode to oh-my-gosh-is-he-going-to-kiss-me in 0.2 seconds.

_Hey! Don't you guys start flirting and getting all smoochy! I'm right here!_

Sophie sighed, the feeling in her chest gone. "Was that necessary Keefe?"

_Very_.

Fitz raised an eyebrow.

"Running commentary, remember?"

"Ah." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Are his eyes closed?"

She nodded.

"Okay." Fitz pulled her into a tight hug and dropped his head on her shoulder. There was a slight dampness and she realized he was crying silently.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Sophie hugged him just as tightly, gently rubbing his back.

He lifted his head to look at her and dried his eyes, tears making the teal irises shimmer. "We, we found Alvar earlier today. Well, we found his body."

"Is that all?"

His brief look of confusion made her clarify. "It's just, you never really cared about him, or at least put up a pretty good front."

"It's…not the same. I tried to hate him with everything I had, but…I've never seen a body before. I've never seen death before. And it brought everything to the front of, of my mind, all those times when he really cared and it was this strange feeling that I…I didn't know what to do with."

Sophie held him tightly, feeling the wet patch on her shoulder grow. "It's a weird feeling, isn't it?"

He nodded, gripping handfuls of her shirt in a vain attempt to stave off more tears.

"When I was…ten I think, my grandma died. I didn't necessarily like her that much, she was kind of strict and almost never let us stay up past like eight or something like that, but when we found out she'd died, all I could think about were the times when she gave us cookies, or hot cocoa after going sledding, or tell us stories, all bundled up in front of her old fireplace, about when she was an Army nurse overseas. She once had to defuse a bomb that landed in the middle of their camp because no one else was brave enough.

"It was hard, and that was thinking death was normal. I saw people die every day on the news, in the newspaper obituaries. Humans knew they had a limited time, eighty years, or a hundred if they were lucky, and you had to make the best out of the time you had. I can't imagine what it must feel like for you, growing up in a culture that doesn't understand death, because elves just don't die. Regardless of how much you say you hate him, knowing they no longer exist, that they're gone, that's a hard feeling. I get it."

He nodded. Sophie wanted to just hold him and let him cry, but the height disparity between them made it a bit difficult. So she settled for leaning her head against his chest and rubbing his back. Keefe either had nothing to say or was keeping his thoughts from her mind.

"I don't like thinking that I'm actually grieving for my brother." The words were meant to have venom behind them, but the force just wasn't there.

"Hey. It's okay if you are. I'd be upset too. Like I said, dealing with death is hard. And finding his body, that must have been horrible."

"Yeah…yeah it was. When I heard Biana scream the first time, I thought it was a snake or something. She's really scared of them. But then she screamed for us to come and I was terrified she'd found something bad. When I got to her, I…I almost threw up."

Sophie gave him a wan smile. "He probably looked way worse than when I found him."

Fitz shivered. "He had lost all the muscle and fat on his body. I could see every bone. They had broken through the skin in some places because it was stretched so tight. He was curled up on the ground and…" His voice trailed off.

She lowered him into her vacant chair. It was big enough for her to sit next to him, with some squishing required.

_That sounds like a horrible way to die._ Keefe finally spoke up, quieter then she had ever heard him. _I don't think anyone deserves that kind of end._

Fitz sniffled. "It sort of, brought home that…this happens. I mean, with Councillor Kenric, it hurt, but I didn't know him as well as you did and, circumstances and stuff."

"I get it."

"But seeing him there, realizing that he'd just curled up and waited to die, waiting for something to kill him, it was like, death is real." He wiped his eyes again. "My parents want to plant a Wanderling for him. Maybe not in the Wanderling Woods, and without the ceremony or anything. I'm…not opposed to the idea. Neither is Biana. Not anymore."

Sophie nodded, reaching up and tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. He leaned into her hand, resting his head in her palm. She smiled and ran her thumb over his temple.

"I'm glad you're here. Thanks for listening, both of you."

"Anytime."

Keefe reached out a shaking hand and gently bumped Fitz's arm, regardless for the horrendous pain the action must have caused.

"This chair's not super comfy with the both of us. We can move if you want."

"What about Keefe?"

"We can keep a telepathic link with the three of us so he's not totally alone. But we don't have to move if you don't want to."

"Is it okay with Keefe?"

_Totally. Go make the Fitzter feel better. No matter how much I don't like my mom, finding her body curled up somewhere like that, I'd still be really, really upset._

Fitz formed a telepathic link with both of them and followed Sophie down the stairs. She was surprised that he kept a tight grip on her hand, but realized it was probably because he needed something to hang on to.

_Are you doing okay, Keefe?_ Fitz's telepathic voice was just as shaky.

_Okay is a relative term. No, I'm certainly not 'okay', but I am feeling a little better. Like I told Sophie, the pain fluctuates. It'll go between better and worse._

_I hope it gets better soon._

_Thanks._

Sophie defaulted to her room and Fitz followed. She dropped his hand to move the books off the bed.

"That's a decent pile."

"Yeah. There's a lot of books."

They settled on the bed, Sophie higher than Fitz so he could lean his head on her shoulder.

_Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?_

Various recent memories flitted through his mind's eye. She took time to pay attention to each one._ A lot actually, but it's kind of embarrassing with Keefe listening._

_Dude, who am I going to tell? I can't talk!_

_It's…not that._

_Guys, if you are going to fight over me now, I might ditch both of you._

_You're not serious right?_

It was hard to tell who said that and it may have been both of them. _No. You're both my friends and both need my support right now. I wouldn't leave._

Fitz snuggled closer, sliding his arms around her waist. Sophie couldn't stop her heart beating faster, despite the very-not-suggestive air. But Keefe picked up on it anyway.

_Getting cuddly in there?_

_No._ But Fitz didn't let go of her. _Do either of you mind if I talk about something real quick?_

_No…_ Sophie was slightly apprehensive.

_Well, I know it's the same day and everything, but…_

_Fitz, if this is about our relationship, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. You don't have to worry about things being weird between us or anything like that. We're good, really. And I'm sorry for my part in it. I shouldn't have asked that of you the way I did._

Keefe mercifully stayed quiet.

Fitz smiled and whispered, "Thank you so much." He reached up and gently kissed her cheek, almost the same way she'd done to him earlier than day.

_You guys okay? I may not be able to feel emotions anymore-_

_You can't feel emotions anymore?!_ Fitz jerked up, eyes wide and head barely missing Sophie's jaw.

_Oh yeah. You weren't there for that conversation. Yeah, Keefe's ability and skills are gone. According to Elwin, the tissue in that area is just so badly damaged it doesn't function anymore._

_Oh. I'm really sorry, Keefe._

_It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Anyway, I was going to say, I may not be able to feel emotions anymore, but I can feel your minds and unless I'm mistaken, things are getting a bit fuzzy?_

Sophie snorted._ Fuzzy. There are plenty of words you could have chosen and you went with fuzzy?_

_Would you have preferred steamy, suggestive?_

_Fuzzy's fine._

_So, Fitzy, now that you and Foster are back together-_

_I'm not going to let you finish that sentence._

Sophie sighed, dropping her head onto her pillow._ Please don't go there, Keefe._

_I'm going to ANYWAY. You guys can't punish me for it and I need something interesting to think about that isn't the immense pain I'm in. So, Fitz, you gonna take her out somewhere nice?_

Fitz sighed. _Yes, I am. But not for a while, on her request._

_Ohhh, okay. Cool. I don't mean for this to be awkward, I'm just kind of bored._

Sophie shrugged, knocking Fitz on the nose by accident. She whispered, "Sorry." _At least you feel well enough to tease us. I never realized how much I liked the nickname 'Foster' until you didn't feel well enough to call me it._

_I'm glad you appreciate my efforts. I'm getting tired though. So I think I'll rest. I've got several hours more before my next shadowflux dose._

_Okay_. Sophie and Fitz pulled back from Keefe's mind, leaving a tenuous link so he could contact them if he needed to.

"So, what happened with Dex? Did you ask him?"

Sophie sighed. "I did, but he didn't want me to tell."

"Oh. I only asked because I found out she likes him and I didn't want her to end up with a broken heart."

"In that case, what kind of things does your sister like? I'll pass the information on."


	6. Six

**I am going to attempt to discipline myself into getting out one chapter a week for each book. This one will be on Wednesday. When Even Two Sparrows Fall will be on Saturday.**

* * *

When Sophie's door was banged open by a frazzled Edaline in the middle of her homework (why teachers felt it necessary to give a research paper before term had even begun was beyond her), she expected that something had gone horribly wrong with Keefe, or they needed her help with the vermilion again. Or something like that. She was not expecting to hear the Amy had showed up unannounced at Candleshade with a lot of boxes.

It was not her fault Amy had made up her mind that she was going to bring items to entertain Keefe with. It was not her fault Amy decided to go through with her plan. And it was certainly not her fault that Amy had badgered Mr. Forkle into bringing her and all her stuff to Candleshade and arranged a 'sleepover' to cover her butt with her parents. None of this was her fault (except for mentioning it to Amy, but that didn't count), but no one else really wanted to take part in that argument.

So now Sophie was doing her best to mediate. Amy refused to leave and the Council was angry about the unauthorized part.

At this point, she'd just tuned out the argument. His sister was not giving any ground against the Council, which was impressive for someone who'd just turned twelve. The Councillors refused to yield either.

Finally, Amy yelled, "You all can either send me home and keep Keefe entertained by yourselves, or you can let me stay and entertain him myself! It is your choice!"

Bronte silenced the rest of the Council. "Amy is correct. We all know what Mr. Sencen is like when he is bored. We may as well take the opportunity."

"What he said. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Amy leaned against the wall of the room.

"Don't look a…what?" Councillor Alina's nose scrunched up trying to understand the phrase.

Sophie sighed. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. It's a human expression that means 'don't be picky about what you've given'. Like if somebody gives you a horse, don't immediately check its teeth to find out how old it is."

"I see." Councillor Emery sighed. "I hope you understand the amount of rules you have broken, Miss Freeman."

"What can I say? It runs in the family." Amy flashed Sophie a smile.

Oralie giggled quietly. Sophie ignored it, grinning back at her sister.

"You may stay for as long as you need."

"Well, I've only covered myself for one night, I might need more than that…"

Councillor Emery sighed heavily again. "We'll take care of that."

"Thank you!"

Amy skipped back outside to her pile of boxes, shooing curious elves away from them and smacking a few on the hand for touching her stuff.

"Amy, what did you bring?"

A sheepish smile. "Stuff."

"A lot of stuff."

"Yeah."

"How big is that TV?"

"It's says on the box, let me look," Amy ducked behind the box and popped back up. "It says forty-eight inches wide. It's wall-mounted. I thought that'd be easier."

"TVs have to be plugged in. To electricity. Which elves don't have."

"Dex can make it work. He's the one that does tech stuff, right?"

"Yes…Is this an Xbox _and_ a Playstation?" Sophie nudged the boxes with her toe.

"I didn't know which one he'd prefer."

"Don't those also have to be plugged in?"

"Dex can make it work." Amy had more confidence in Dex's abilities than almost everyone else.

Sophie picked up a smaller box and read the label. "A Nintendo Switch? Don't these have to be charged?"

"Dex can make it work."

"Is that a tablet and Bluetooth speaker? Those both have to be charged and doesn't it need internet?"

"Kindle Fire. Dex can make it work."

"A DVD player?"

"Dex can make it work."

"Is that going to be your answer to everything?"

"Yes."

Sophie sighed. "So what's in those boxes there?"

Amy grinned. "This one is movies, this one is games for both consoles, these two are books, and this smaller one is audiobooks on cassette tapes and a player in case the Kindle doesn't work. I also packed a bunch of USB cords and battery packs just in case."

"How long did it take you to get all of this together?"

"Well, I started a few days ago. I had to talk to a few people about money and stuff. I think I ended up drawing from your birth fund. Sorry not sorry. I have a Kindle myself for books and audiobooks and I really like it, so I got one for him. I don't know much about what Keefe likes, but I know Ro's going to have to do it with him, so I tried to find things in the middle. There's a couple drawing apps on the Kindle, he may like them, he may not. I got a lot of different games for the console, some are more action-y than others."

Sophie smiled. "It's an impressive collection. He'll probably love it."

It took several trips and a lot of telekinesis to get Amy's haul up to the 156th floor. Dex was a bit overwhelmed at the amount of work she expected him to do, but he enjoyed the opportunity to work with a different kind of technology. Ro, finally back from her trip, did a lot of heavy lifting, installing the wall-mounted TV after Dex said it would probably be easier to modify mounted.

Amy set to introducing Keefe to video games via the Switch, which she had a few downloaded games on. She and Tam got into a bit of a heated match of Mario Kart or some other racing game, with Amy ultimately winning. Keefe enjoyed watching.

_Amy brought a lot of stuff._

"Yeah, she did."

"Are you talking to me?" Amy looked up from trying to sort out the mess of cords.

"No. I keep a telepathic link with Keefe so he can talk to me. He'll be keeping a running commentary in my head."

"Cool. Can you tell me what he thinks of the games as I describe them?" Amy handed the switch to Tam and dragged the cardboard box over. "So I got as wide a selection as I could. I avoided first-person-shooter type ones, but I've got Minecraft in here, Mario, stuff like that. I have a few FPS I thought he might enjoy though, like a couple Star Wars games."

_What's a first-person-shooter?_

"We'll show you when we get stuff set up."

Amy started pulling games out of the box and setting them on the floor. "Do you want to start with audiobooks? Those can be used without modification."

"What do you think, Keefe?"

_What's an audiobook?_

"Oh yeah. An audiobook is a recording of a book being read aloud. It's really useful for humans who are blind, dyslexic or otherwise don't have the time or can't read. Amy has a bunch of them."

"Do you have Ranger's Apprentice?" Fitz was elbow deep in the box of books, setting them in neat piles along the wall.

_What's that?_

_A series I've been reading. Fitz wants to borrow it when I'm done._

Amy opened the Kindle and scrolled through it. "If I'd known you guys wanted it, I would have been sure to get it. I have the first book in audiobook form but that's it. I can get the rest. What I do have on here are Harry Potter, Beyonders, Percy Jackson, Fablehaven, um, Five Kingdoms, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Blood of Kings, How To Train Your Dragon, Trinity Flynn, Twelve Upon a Time. Stuff like that. I also have most of them in book form."

Dex yelped and Ro barely caught the TV tilting forward.

"Be more careful!"

"Yeah. Noted." He went back to fiddling with the wires. "Human technology is weird."

"Don't die. I need you to modify all this stuff." Amy started rooting around in her box of movies. "I also have a bunch of movies. They're generally more violent than books. I was thinking of Ro with some of these, since we have to keep her happy. There's a couple that probably aren't elf-appropriate, but that I'm pretty sure she'd love and since Keefe's going to be sleeping twelve hours out of the day, she'll have time to watch these without him."

_I forget human media is way more violent._

_Don't worry. I'm sure Ro will do her best to watch them without you._

Ro remounted the TV and sat next to Amy. "Whatcha got for me?"

Amy grinned. "Horror and thrillers. _A Quiet Place_, one of my personal favorites, _It_, haven't seen it but you'd probably like it, _Mortal_ _Engines_, not a horror, but plenty scary. _Deadpool_, one and two, they're pretty bloody, so these are definite watch-without-elves. There's some iffy ones in here, I don't know how high personal tolerances are, but we have the entire MCU collection."

Sophie squealed, accidentally cutting her sister off. "The entire collection!?"

"Yeah._ Infinity War_ and _Endgame_ came out while you were gone. So did _Ant-Man and the Wasp_ and _Spiderman: Far From Home._"

"We have to watch them!"

You really like those movies.

Are you kidding? They're the greatest!

"Don't worry, they'll be here a while. I also have _Star Wars_, the earlier ones should be fine for elves violence-wise. I don't know about the newer ones, I like them as movies, not so much as continuations of _Star Wars_. And of course I have the _Clone Wars_ series on DVD because it is necessary. I do have L_ord of the Rings_, I don't know what Ro would think about it, but I have it anyway. I also have the _Hobbit_ movies. Mom and Dad don't like them. Again, objectively they're wonderful movies, but maybe not for the die-hard fan. But the goal here is to keep Keefe entertained and they will do that."

There was a yelp and the thud of a book being dropped. Sophie jumped and looked over and the source of the noise.

Fitz was sitting against the wall, the book he'd been reading lying open on the floor. He was tense and breathing hard.

"Which book is that?" Amy leaned forward and squinted at it. "Oh, _Blood of Kings._ Cool."

_Fitz is reading a book called Blood of Kings?_

_Blood as in descendant._

_Okay._

"It looked interesting and I couldn't put it down. That Eben came out of nowhere!"

"Oh, you're at that part. Anyway, there should be some boxes with shelves inside to put the books on. I brought those since I wasn't sure what you guys had." Amy went back to digging in the box, sorting the movies into three piles: okay for Keefe, iffy, and Ro's movies. "There's TV shows in here too. I have ones that Keefe might enjoy but are mostly for Ro, and some shows that are for Keefe. I wasn't sure how much time Ro would be spending by herself, not being able to leave the room in case something happens. So for her I've got _The Walking Dead_, it's about zombies, _Firefly_, fugitive running around space, _Gravity Falls_, it's just weird. That's an iffy one. For Keefe, I have probably the best TV show of all time."

Amy pulled out an old, beat up case with a familiar red and green duo on the front.

"Is that VeggieTales?"

"Yes!" Amy's smile might have been bigger than her own.

Veggie Tales? Umm, I don't know what I think about that.

We'll watch an episode of it first.

"What's VeggieTales and why does it sound childish?" Ro commented, looking at the Walking Dead case.

"It is a show for preschoolers, like three and four year olds, but I LOVED it up until I came to the Lost Cities. Some of the song wear on my nerves a little, like the S.U.V. song, but this was what I grew up watching. Once I understood that the tomatoes and cucumbers we were eating weren't actually Bob and Larry's family."

"What?" Ro was the only one really paying attention now. Everyone else had originally been helping Fitz unpack the books, but had found one that looked interesting to them and were sitting against the wall. Tam and Linh were engaged in a heated match on the Switch. Amy had left to sort all her boxes and was having fun bossing some of the elves around trying to get shelves brought up, either elvin ones or the ones she had brought.

"Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. You'll have to watch to find out."

"That sounds so incredibly stupid."

I think it sound kinda cute.

"That's probably what my parents thought."

"Sophie! I need your help!" Amy yelled.

"I'll be right back." She poked her head out into the hall to see Amy dragging the final box across the floor.

"Literally anyone would have been happy to help you carry that."

"They're negotiating Ikea shelves. I was watching until I remembered this last box."

"What's in there?"

Amy plopped down on the floor and opened the box. "Disney movies!"

Sophie grinned. "No way. Is this all of them?"

"All the ones I could find." The movies Sophie could see on the top were _Big Hero 6, Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog, and Brave_.

"_Brave_'s not a Disney movie. That one's Pixar."

"It's close enough. Help me drag this thing in there?"

Sophie grinned and lifted the box with telekinesis. Her sister gave the box a 'I should have asked for help earlier' look.

There was a loud yell of "YES!" from Keefe's room, Sophie jumped.

_Keefe what happened in there?_

_Dex got the TV working and he and Dex we racing each other on the small TV like thing._

_It's called a Switch._ Sophie corrected.

_Yeah, that. Tam finally won. Dex has been kicking his butt._

_Cool_. "Tam finally won a race."

"Nice. Let's get this box inside. Hopefully there will be shelves to put things on soon."

Amy opened the door and whistled loudly. Sophie winced, and everyone else in the room flinched, except for Keefe. He yelled, squeezing his eyes shut and his hands went to cover his ears, but since he was trying his best not to move, it resulted in a slight jerking of the limbs.

_Can you please tell whoever that was to NEVER do that again? That was horrible!_

"Amy, Keefe wants you to know to never do that again."

Her sister's eyes were wide. "Yeah I could tell! I'm so sorry. I totally forgot!"

It's okay. Just don't do it again. It felt like my head was being ripped in half, in addition to what I'm already feeling.

Everyone else relaxed. Amy blew out a breath. "Now that I've got everyone's attention, I need help getting everything sorted out and on shelves once they get here. I have three categories for stuff: stuff for Keefe, iffy, and Ro's. Dex said he got the TV working, so maybe we could put on a movie while we work."

Everyone nodded and set to work. The shelves were eventually installed and Amy oversaw the sorting and shelving of everything. Keefe kept up the commentary in both Fitz and Sophie's heads. It took at least an hour for them to be done, Dex modifying all the human technology the entire time. By the time they were done, Keefe had fallen into a half-sleeping state, Dex had everything working, and Amy had a small pile of requested movies built up on the lower shelf under the TV.

"So here we have _How to Train Your Dragon, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_, and _Big Hero 6_. Not the movies I thought you guys would pick, but hey, I'm cool with it. I'm gonna take The Hobbit out of the running. It's a bit violent and should probably wait. The first Harry Potter's less violent, but might be a bit offensive, 'house elves' and all. The last two are both pretty equally violent, definitely not very, but it's a matter of preference. Dragons or cool robots?"

The consensus was dragons. Amy popped the disk into the player. "Sophie can you wake Keefe up? I don't want to hurt his ears."

_Don't worry. I can hear her. Are we watching a movie?_

"How to Train Your Dragon. Do you want to watch or wait?"

_Cool. I feel good enough to watch. It's probably close to my next soporodine dose, isn't it?_

_Not yet. You've got a few more hours._

Amy leaned against the wall next to Sophie. "Can you dim the lights? The movie's a bit dark at the beginning."

Sophie snapped her fingers, shutting the lights off.

It had been a very long time since she'd seen the Dreamworks logo, with the boy on the moon, as the music played in the background.

Tam jumped. "Did you see that? In the background? There was a dragon flying there!"

Amy nodded. "Yup."

The screen shivered into the water and panned up to show Berk and Hiccup's narration began.

_"This… is Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It is located solidly on the meridian of misery."_

A wave splashed over the camera and the view changed to to show more of the houses and fields.

_"My village, in a word, sturdy. And it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests." A sheep is snatched away by something large with claws. Biana jumped._

_"You see, while most places have mice or mosquitoes, we have…" Hiccup opened the door and looked outside, only to hurriedly close it when a heavily shadowed dragon almost roasted him, staring in terror at the camera. "Dragons."_

_The camera panned around the village, showing the townsfolk fighting off various dragons. Since it was an animated film, there was no blood or gore, but occasionally someone flinched anyway._

_"Most people would leave. Not us, we're Vikings. We have… stubbornness issues." Hiccup ran out of his house. "My name's Hiccup. Great name, I know. But, it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls."_

Fitz snorted. "That doesn't make any sense."

Amy paused the movie. "Vikings thought gnomes and trolls were going to steal their children."

"It makes a little more sense now."

She restarted the movie.

_"Like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that."_

_Another much bigger Viking knocked Hiccup over and almost brained him. He stopped his axe in time and said, "Mornin'" before running off again._

_Various older Vikings yelled at Hiccup as he ran through the village._

_"What're you doin'?"_

_"Get inside!"_

_"What are you doing out?"_

_"Get back inside!"_

_Hiccup almost ran into a dragon's blast of fire, but a hand the size of his head grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him out of the way. "Hiccup! What is he doin' out aga- What are you doin' out? Get inside!"_

_Hiccup continued his narration after being thrown offscreen. "That's Stoik the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes I do."_

It took about fifteen minutes for everyone to adjust to the movie, counting the several times Amy had to pause the movie and either she or Sophie explained Viking culture.

_The camera zoomed in on Hiccup's notebook, showing all the places he'd checked. He looked up and saw more ferns and empty forest. He sighed and crossed out the spot, then scribbles all over it. Closing his notebook, he puts it back in his jacket and grumbles, "Oh the gods hate me. Some people lose their knife or their mug, no not me, I manage to lose an entire dragon!" He smacks a branch in front of him and it whacks him in the face. He looks up and sees the tree broken in half._

Keefe shivered. _That's it, isn't it?_

"Whoa." Biana, probably subconsciously, reached over and took Dex's hand.

Sophie grinned. This was probably her favorite part of the movie.

* * *

**I apologize if that felt abrupt or unfinished. I couldn't think of a way to continue the chapter. Review for a teaser! (let me know if you don't want one)**

**Shine brightly!  
**

**Ruby**


	7. Seven

Keefe was back to sleep again and the sun was setting in front of Candleshade. Sophie's favorite place in the huge mansion was quickly becoming the rooftop garden. Amy was paying special attention to all the pretty flowers.

"Why did you do all that for Keefe?"

Amy shrugged, sitting next to her on the marble bench. "He's a really good friend of yours who's in a bad position. I looked up the symptoms you gave me and talked to a couple doctor friends and it sounds like he has a nerve disorder. It's probably going to leave him bedridden for the rest of his life, which means he could be stuck there for thousands of years. And he'll probably lose things like his hearing over time. I wanted to do what I could to help."

"Thank you for doing that for him. He really appreciates it."

"So are you guys going to keep going after the Neverseen?"

Sophie shook her head. "Loanmore was a big wake-up call for the Council, and Iltaurielle chewed them out for using kids to do their dirty work. They realized they have thousands of adults with hundreds of years of experience at their disposal. Team Valiant is now strictly on an advisory basis until we're old enough and if we choose to leave once we're adults, then we'll leave. They finally figured out that we're just kids. Wylie's the only one who's even out of school and he's still only nineteen. That's way too young to be getting involved in these kinds of things. So we'll be taking a back seat, and for one, I'm glad. It shouldn't be my job to clean up millenia-old mistakes that I have no part in. So, we're out of the limelight for now. I still have special treatment, bodyguards, weird school schedule; but I'm being allowed to live my life apart from that."

Amy grinned. "Awesome. So will we be able to be better friends because of that?"

"Well, if you'll be teaching us all sign language, then you'll probably be around a lot, so probably. I don't know about me visiting you unless we can make up some story. But yeah, totally."

"Yay." Her sister leaned her head on Sophie's shoulder. "I am so down for the double agent thing."

"You're weird."

They both laughed. Amy sighed, staring at one of the flowers. "This probably has a lot of ramifications for Keefe. I mean, he can't do anything. He's trapped inside his own body.

"Don't worry. If anyone or anything gives him trouble, the Council and the Black Swan are standing behind him. And Team Valiant of course."

"You mentioned somebody named Iltaurielle earlier. Who are they?"

Sophie answered, "She's the person who brought Keefe out of his coma. She's tracking down the Neverseen by herself right now. None of us are super worried about her, since she rides a really big gold dragon and she's an elf with weapons that carries herself like she knows how to use them."

"Cool. So how badly do they want How To Train Your Dragon 2?"

"Really, really badly. Like, Fitz doesn't beg for _anything_ and he will not shut up about this movie. Neither will Keefe, but he's being more polite about it."

Amy grinned. "I have it on order and it's coming. I have to go soon, I've got school, but I'll be taking sign language classes in addition to what I already know, so as soon as you need it, I can start teaching Keefe sign language. And you guys too, so you can understand him."

"Thank you so much for your help, Amy. You've saved us a lot of trouble."

"No problem!"

Mr. Forkle had to take Amy home, so Sophie went back to Keefe's room.

He looked much more peaceful when he was sleeping. She was careful not to disturb him as she continued sorting the movies. The selection Amy had chosen was wide. On Keefe's end was most if not all of the Disney animated movies. _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast_. Every movie she'd grown up watching. She shelved them in alphabetical order, sliding _The Aristocats_ in between _Aladdin_ and _Beauty and the Beast_.

Keefe's new room was much smaller than his old bedroom, but he didn't need the extra space anymore. The room, being in the interior of the building, had no windows, but plenty of natural light funneled through a skylight using mirrors. The wall-mounted TV was on the wall at the foot of Keefe's bed, perpendicular to the door, with one of the shelves under it and the other two on either side. The layout reminded her a bit of a nice hospital room, but with shelves.

The books Amy had gotten were larger and thicker than Sophie had thought. She also wasn't sure if Keefe could read in English. But she set the _Inheritance Cycle_ on the shelf next to a thick hardbound copy of _Lord of the Rings_. A thought flitted across her mind, wondering how Keefe would have time to read all of these. Then she remembered he had all the time he could ever need.

A knock on the door startled her and she dropped the book she was holding on her foot. "Ow!"

"Are you okay?" Biana stepped in.

"Yeah. I dropped a book."

Biana sat next to her and started helping her shelve the books. "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah…" Sophie didn't like the nervousness in her tone. "Is something wrong?"

"Fitz probably told you we found Alvar."

"He did. Do you want to talk about that?"

"No." She sighed. "I don't like remembering it. He looked horrible and I actually felt upset about it. I wanted to know if you had any advice for dealing with it."

Sophie pushed the box of books aside and set her arm around Biana's shoulders. "I don't really, except that talking about help sometimes. I didn't like my grandma all that much, she was a former Army nurse, strict and all that. But she was also sweet and let us do things our parents might not have agreed with. So I get it."

"Thank you."

"I wanted to talk to you about…something else. I'm not sure if you're comfortable with it, but I wanted to talk to you about it first."

"Okay…" Since this wasn't a serious conversation, Sophie reached over and pulled out more books to shelve. _Percy Jackson_ was at the top of the pile, ten medium to thick volumes. "What's on your mind?"

"Dex."

She almost dropped the book she was holding again and hoped Biana didn't notice. "What about him?"

"Well…do you think we have a chance of being matched?"

Sophie slid the book onto the shelf slowly. "I'm not sure. I don't know much about the matchmaking system. I never got to pick up my packet remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well, there are a lot of things that affect it. Whether or not you have an ability, family trees, and family status. I also know matchmakers prefer matching people close to each other geographically or in the same rank as the nobility. To give them the best chance of meeting."

"Well, I'd say you have a pretty solid chance then. Since you both have an ability, it really is fifty/fifty, unless he decides not to register. But since you're both pretty famous and your family trees don't intersect anywhere as far as I know, you've got a pretty good chance. I wouldn't be super hung up about it."

Biana squinted at the title of a book. "Where does this one go? I figured out the ones with the numbers on them, since I saw the order you put them in, but this one doesn't have that."

Sophie took the book from her and read the title. "This isn't in a series. It's a standalone book. So it just goes by itself."

"Okay. This question might be weird, since he's your cousin, but do you think I have a chance with him?"

"Dex?"

"Yeah."

"Totally!" Sophie smiled. "Just be careful. He's a little breakable after I had to let him down."

"Okay." Suddenly Biana paled and looked behind them at Keefe. "He's asleep right?"

"Yes. But he can't tell anyone, remember? I'm the only one he can speak to with any regularity. Until he learns sign language, anything in his head is stuck there. But yeah, he's sleeping." Sophie got up and pulled one of the other boxes over to a different shelf.

"I forgot about that." Biana joined her in putting away the movies. "Do you think he likes me?"

Sophie squeezed _Mulan_ in between its fellows. "You have a chance. I don't want to betray his confidence by saying anything else, but you do have a chance."

"Okay. What's -oh I don't know how to pronounce this- _Pinnochio_?"

"It's a story about a wooden puppet trying to become a real boy. His nose grows really long when he lies. The original fairy tale was really dark, but the film adaptation was made appropriate for children."

Biana went to put it on the shelf, then stopped. "Where does it go?"

Sophie pointed. "Here, next to _Pocohontus_."

They finished shelving the movies quietly, with only the occasional question of where something went.

"You're staying kind of late. Don't you have to go home?"

"Yeah. I'm avoiding Fitz."

"Is something wrong?"

Biana shook her head. "He's just asking weird questions. Like what kind of flowers I like."

"What kind of flowers do you like?"

"You too? What is it with the weird questions?" She squinted at the case of the disc she was holding. "What does this say anyway?"

"That's _Sleeping Beauty_. And I'm genuinely curious."

"Roses. I know a little bit about the language of flowers in human culture and I know they represent love. I also really like the idea that people came up with a whole language using just flowers and I think it sounds really romantic."

Sophie nodded, filing the information away. "_Sleeping Beauty_ goes here by the way, next to _Robin Hood_ and _Snow White_. I did a presentation on the language of flowers in history class once. It's fascinating. Roses actually have different meanings depending on the colour."

"That's super cool. What's the difference?"

"Red roses represent love and romance, but black ones mean vengeance. Blue ones are, oh boy it's been like five or six years, I think they're mystery and intrigue but I could be wrong."

"Are purple roses a thing? It's my favourite colour."

Sophie nodded. "Purple roses are 'love at first sight'."

"Wow." Biana stared up toward the wall with a dreamy smile and a light blush on her cheeks.

"If you want to learn more, I could look up some information for you."

"Can you actually say things with flowers?"

"What did you have in mind?" Sophie asked. She stacked some of the movies in alphabetical order to make them easier for Biana to shelve.

"Kind of like, 'You're the only one for me'. I think that'd be really romantic."

"Hmm. Let me think." Sophie dug up all the old research, trying to remember the meanings of certain flowers. "Tulips, hydrangeas, and chrysanthemums. Tulips are 'declaration of love', hydrangeas are 'heartfelt', and chrysanthemums are 'fidelity'. Depending on who's giving it, you could also add daffodils, 'chivalry', irises, 'my compliments', or red roses. There are plenty of others, but those are the ones I thought of."

"That sounds really pretty. If we're done for today, both of us should probably go home. Like you said, it is getting pretty late."

Sophie nodded, pushing the half-empty box against the wall. "I was just filling in for Ro while she ran to grab something. She's probably back by now."

They walked back to the vortinator, greeting Ro briefly on their way. Right before Sophie stepped off the annoying lavish front porch of Candleshade, Biana set a hand on her arm to stop her. "If you really think I have a chance with Dex, could you…drop a hint to him or something?"

"Sure." Sophie shooed three crows away from the railing. "I'll be back here tomorrow so if you want to talk more about the language of flowers, that's where I'll be."

"Thanks." Biana pulled out her home crystal and lifted it to the dying vestiges of the sunset. "See you tomorrow."

"You too."

* * *

**Story is progressing nicely! Drop a review below for a tidbit from my next chapter! (If you don't want one, just let me know.)**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	8. Eight

**Skipping some time here. It was the beginning of the school year last chapter, it is now midterms.**

* * *

Sophie's life settled into a shadow of a normal, though she remained on edge, waiting for something to shatter the peace. But nothing did. She wasn't sure what the difference was, but for once, she was starting to feel safe.

Even though she wasn't an early riser, Sophie made herself get up early, dressed and eat breakfast so she could be there when Keefe woke up. Those were the hardest times for him, getting his body used to the pain again after being painless for the last twelve hours. Ro was usually finishing up another episode of The Walking Dead. Despite the language barrier, it was clearly entertaining for her thanks to subtitles and she was picking up a few phrases in English.

Keefe almost always grumbled about having to return to the land of the living. He was happy to see Sophie, but being stuck without communication while she was at school was wearing on his nerves. Amy was trying her best to teach him sign language in her spare time, but she had her own school and hobbies taking up her time.

Sophie dragged herself away from Candleshade to go to Foxfire. She didn't see Fitz very often anymore, but they sent each other quiet telepathic greetings every chance they got including when they weren't supposed to. Level Five was harder compared to the ones before it, but her brain relished having a challenge. Her Mentors liked her and most of them understood what had been released to the public about Keefe's situation, and gave her less homework than they would normally. Bronte refused to lighten her load, but he did cut his lessons a little short to allow her time for the extra work.

Her friends took turns joining her at Candleshade and the days she couldn't go, two or three of them would go in her stead. Keefe enjoyed the constant stream of visitors, but they were steadily working through Amy's collection of media, especially the audiobooks. They'd need replenishment soon.

She didn't see Fitz very often. Sometimes he was allowed out of the Gold Tower on weekends, but not often. The times when they could see each other, he attempted to resume their relationship the way it had been. Small gifts and trinkets that made her smile. When he had more time, he'd spend it giving Keefe all the information he'd gained to ensure he was actually missing anything.

Lord Cassius still hadn't come back. He'd cut off contact with most, if not all of them, entirely. From what she'd heard, he refused to talk about Keefe or acknowledge him as his son. They did their best to make sure Keefe felt loved, but it still hurt him to know his father had effectively disowned him.

Her bodyguards often took turns now, and sometimes she was allowed to go alone.

"Mom, Dad, have you seen my notebook?" Sophie yelled, looking under her bed for the third time. "I can't find it anywhere!"

"Your memory log?" Edaline called. "Or your purple one?"

"My white one with gold glitter on the edges! I thought I put it in my desk, but it's not there and I need it today!"

"It's down here on the counter! You left it out by the Panakes and one of the gnomes rescued it from Wynn and Luna."

"Thank you!" Sophie ran down the stairs. "Did it get hurt?"

Edaline handed her the notebook, which only had minimal grass stains on it that brushed off easily. "No, it's fine. What do you need it for?"

"Stuff. Since it's finally midterms, Fitz can leave the Gold Tower. He's taking me to this really pretty meadow. I'm trying to find interesting things for Keefe to look at. This book is technically a memory log, but the paper is better suited for drawing on than the one in my other one, so I can do both in here."

"You sound excited."

Sophie smiled, looking through the things she'd already projected. "I enjoy spending time with Fitz and finding something I love doing. I didn't really get to have hobbies when I was living with humans."

"I'm glad you're having fun. Be home by dinner."

"Okay!" Sophie ran outside, then remembered the Leapmaster was upstairs and she was going the wrong way. She turned around and went upstairs. "Wrong way! Actual bye this time!"

Edaline laughed. "Okay. Bye!"

* * *

Fitz was waiting for her on Foxfire's lawn. The gold uniform looked strange on him, but he gave her a huge smile that made his whole face light up.

"Sophie!"

"Hey Fitz."

He hugged her tightly. "I missed you."

"You saw me last week."

"Yeah, but I still miss not seeing you at school. The elite levels are boring. It's nice to see your smile."

"Is it just me or are you being, well sappy's not the right word, but you get what I mean."

Fitz let go of her. "I'm not sure. But I am happy to see you."

He lifted the crystal to the light and leapt them to a huge open meadow.

"Oh wow. This place is beautiful." Sophie whispered.

The knee-high, multi-coloured grass waved softly in the wind. Large trees, mostly weeping willows, surrounded a large area, leaves rustling gently. They were on top of a gentle hill, sloping down into the forest.

"I have got to project this for Keefe right now. This is amazing." Sophie plopped down cross legged and opened her notebook. Looking up she chose the angle and the shot she wanted and closed her eyes. The image took shape, capturing perfectly the softly waving grass and leaves.

"You've gotten good at that." Fitz sat down next to and slightly behind her. "It looks amazing."

"Thank you." Sophie smirked inwardly and leaned back onto Fitz's chest, resting her head in the crook between neck and shoulder. She heard the quiet, sharp breath and felt his heartbeat quicken under her ear.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you." He hesitantly settled his arm around her. "So, there's this really beautiful restaurant in Eternalia, romantic, candlelight dinner sort of thing. But it's not as enjoyable by yourself, so I was wondering if a lovely lady would like to go with me?"

Sophie pulled back and looked at him. His teal eyes were sparkling with hope. "Are you asking me out? Like, on at date-date?"

"Is it too soon? It's been seven or eight months since Loanmore, and I thought it kind of seemed right?"

She smiled. "When were you thinking?"

"Wh-What?"

"That means yes, Fitz. I'd be happy to go out, on a date, with you. I wanted to know when."

"O-Oh!" He glanced off at the tree line, grinning. "I don't know. I honestly didn't think I'd get this far. Next Saturday evening? I talked Grizel into letting it be bodyguard-free, whenever we decide to go."

Sophie slipped her arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder again. "This coming Saturday sounds great. I highly doubt I have a previous obligation, but if I do, it is being cleared from the schedule. What time?"

"I can pick you up around four. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah. Anyway, we should probably head to Candleshade. I bet Keefe's antsy."

"Keefe's always antsy now." But Fitz stood, helping her up. He gripped her hand a little tighter than he needed to and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "Let's go."

As soon as Sophie formed the telepathic connection, Kefe blasted her head with _FOOOOSTEEEEEER! WHERE WEEEERRRREEEE YOU?_

_Somebody's impatient. _She went to open the door, but Fitz slipped his hand under hers and pulled it open for her. She smiled.

_Of course I'm impatient, we're watching what Amy dubbed the greatest TV show of all time! I have to know what all the hype is about!_

_Just stay calm. Fitz and I are on our way up._ "Keefe's excited."

They stepped onto the vortinator and Fitz yelled, "Floor 156!" He answered when they landed. "Of course he is."

The disc was already in the player and Keefe would have been bouncing with excitement if he'd been able to move.

_Start it start it start it start it start it!_

"Okay, okay I'm starting it! Is no one else coming?"

_You are asking the WRONG person._

Fitz shrugged. "I don't think so. But Keefe's probably really impatient, so we should start it."

"You could form a mental link and see just how impatient he is."

_JUST TURN IT ON! I CAN YELL A LOT LOUDER IN MY HEAD THAN I EVER COULD OUT LOUD. THIS IS KIND OF COOL. I WONDER HOW LOUD I CAN YELL._

Sophie winced. "Okay, I get it. It's starting."

The screen went white and the voice of nostalgia spoke from offscreen.

_"Okay, Larry, it's time for the theme song."_

_"Uh, okay Bob. What do I do?"_

_"Hmm, let's see. I know, you play the guitar!"_

_"Bob, I don't have any hands."_

_"Oh. You're right. Well, okay, well, you play this!"_

_"I don't wanna play that! I'll look silly!"_

_"Oh come on. It'll be fun!"_

_"Nope. Not gonna do it."_

_"It's for the kids."_

Fitz sighed. "Something tells me this is going to be kind of silly."

Sophie grinned. "Oh, it's brain-cell killing silly sometimes, but that's the point."

"_Oh, okay. But they better not laugh."_

_"Alright, better get on out there."_

_Larry the Cucumber bounced onscreen with a tuba wrapped around him._

Fitz snorted, trying to hold in his laughter. "I kind of feel bad for laughing, but it's funny, and weird because I'm concerned for the feelings of a vegetable."

Keefe snickered. _Sorry, Larry. That's hilarious._

Larry began tooting out the theme song and Bob walked? Hopped? Whatever you call it over next to Larry as he began singing.

_"If you like to talk to tomatoes,_

_If a squash can make you smile."_

Sophie grinned. This was the show of her childhood.

Keefe lost his laughter quickly. _This isn't like the other movies, is it?_

"Nope! We're watching Larry Boy!"

Fitz groaned and Bob continued.

_"If you like to waltz with potatoes_

_Up and down the produce aisle." He held the note and then stretched his face up to the camera. "Have we got a show for you!"_

After the theme song was done, Fitz said, "That was so dumb and silly, but I cannot wipe this stupid grin off my face."

"That's Veggie Tales for you."

Larry Boy and the Rumour Weed was equally funny and pure nostalgia for Sophie. She remembered watching this when she was younger. Her parents had used it to caution her and Amy against bad habits.

Fitz squirmed a little during some parts. I remember when I got caught passing rumours on when I was younger. I got in pretty big trouble for it.

Keefe had only kept up his commentary for part of the episode. Eventually he fell quiet, occasionally laughing in her head.

Sophie stopped the player and took the disc out before it started the next episode. "So, that's Veggie Tales. What did you guys think?"

"It's a good show. It's clearly geared for kids, but it's entertaining. And from what you said, there's a lot of it. So it'll keep him entertained for a long time." Fitz smiled at her. "How many of those 'Silly Songs with Larry' are there?"

"A lot. Amy had set up a WiFi router, so if we have a device with a larger screen, we can binge-watch all the silly songs. They're the type of thing where you know it's stupid, but you can't wipe the dumb grin off your face. I loved them."

_Hey Sophie, what's this?_ Keefe asked, cutting off whatever Fitz was going to say.

"Keefe, what are you doing?"

_Nothing_.

"You are snooping in my memories. I can feel you. What are you doing?"

_This is a pretty meadow._

"Get out of my memories, Keefe. I don't know how you learned to do that since you're not a Telepath, but please stay out of my memories."

"Keefe, what are you doing in Sophie's memories?" Fitz gave him a look.

Keefe gave them a weak sheepish smile. _I got kind of bored. _

"He says he got bored."

"I heard him."

_If there's something in that memory you don't want me seeing, I only saw the first half._

Sophie sighed. "It's kind of hard to stay mad at you."

_I'm getting tired. Do you mind not being mad at me somewhere else?_

"Okay." Sophie sighed and she and Fitz left.

"Are you going to tell him about…us?"

"Eventually, but it's kind of new and I'm afraid of making him feel bad because everything's moving on without him. And, it still kind of feels like what happened is my fault, even though there was nothing I could do."

Fitz reached out to hug her, then stopped. "Is it okay if I hug you?"

"Yeah, that's fine!" she reassured, leaning her head on his shoulder.

He gently set his arms around her. "It's really not your fault. Like you said there's nothing you could've done. There's nothing any of us could've done. All we can do now is make him as comfortable as possible and see if there's anything we can do about helping him get better, even if it's by a little bit. I'm not as good at these pep talk/reassurance thing as he was, being able to read your emotions. But I'll try my best."

"Well, you're doing great."

"Thank you."

"So how fancy is this restaurant? Like, what should I wear? I have zero experience with this."

"Honestly, ask your mom. I have fewer experience than you do."

"I'll do that." Sophie tucked her head into the crook of his neck, nose brushing his skin, and took a deep breath. "Are you wearing cologne?"

"Uh, yeah, actually."

"I like it. You should wear it more often."

"Th-Thank you." His voice was breathy and he was probably blushing, but she couldn't see his face.

Sophie's Imparter rang, startling both of them. She sighed and pulled it out of her pocket, answering it.

"Hey Mom."

"Hey sweetie. I was going to go shopping and was wondering if you wanted to come with me. I know it's not your favorite, but I would really love it if you wanted to come."

Sophie glanced at Fitz out of the corner of her eye. _Do you mind if I go?_

_That's fine. Ro and I can play Mario Kart for a while. Keefe enjoys messing with us. First he's rooting for Ro, then me, then for a random computer racer. He's learning to play, but it's too painful for him sometimes. If he doesn't want to interact with people right now, I'll probably put on an audiobook for him, or read aloud. He's working through Five Kingdoms right now. I think he's on Crystal Keepers._

_Okay._ "Yeah, sure Mom. I can be home in five minutes. That good?"

"Of course!"

Sophie clicked off her Imparter. "So, see you next Saturday, I guess?"

Fitz grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Wednesday actually. Amy has _How To Train Your Dragon 2_ and we're all watching it."

"Oh yeah." She chuckled. "You're really excited about that."

"Well, I want to know if Hiccup and Astrid get together. They're a cute couple. And Toothless is a really cool dragon. His retractable teeth are awesome."

"You sound like me when I first saw it."

"Do I?" Fitz's cheeks were a light pink.

Sophie leaned over and pecked his cheek, not missing the sharp intake of breath or his slight stumble. "See you on Wednesday."

"Bye Soph." he whispered.

She allowed herself a small smirk and contacted Keefe to let him know she was leaving.

_Hey Keefe._

He grumbled. _What?_

_I'm heading out. Fitz is staying._

_Ugh. Okay._

_Bad day?_

_Horrible day. My lungs are aching worse than normal so it's really hard to breathe._

_Okay. I'll leave you alone._

_Thanks._

Sophie pulled out her home crystal and held it up to the midafternoon sun, letting it whisk her away to the pastures of Havenfield.

* * *

Edaline was waiting in the living room. "Hey babydoll."

"Hi Mom." Sophie hugged her briefly. Over time, she had slipped into calling her parents Mom and Dad.

"How's Keefe?"

"Worse, not that he can get much worse. But today's definitely a bad day. He said his lungs and heart hurt worse than normal."

"Oh, poor thing! I hope he feels a little better soon."

"So do I. Where are we going?"

Edaline grinned, looking happier than Sophie had ever seen her. "Well, it's one of my favorite boutiques that Jolie and I used to love going dress shopping at. I know they're not your thing and you already have a lot, but…"

"No that sounds great!" Sophie grinned. Maybe she could find something to wear for her date. She shivered. Just the word made her jittery.

"Are you okay? You look jumpy."

"Yeah, I'm good."

"If you say so." Edaline took her hand and they walked outside. She pulled out her pathfinder and leapt them to a large busy street.

This was either a city she hadn't been to or a section of a city she'd never seen. The streets were wide and mostly filled with women and girls. All of the shop fronts were elaborate and tall, advertising jewelry and dress and shoes.

"Wow. Have I been to this city before?"

Edaline took her hand and led her down the street. "I don't believe you have." She pointed to a boutique down the street from them. "It's right there, not far."

The shop wasn't much different from the others on the street, but it was clearly Edaline's favorite.

"So, did anything come up between you and Fitz while you were out?"

Sophie ducked her head behind a rack, hoping to hide the rush of blood to her cheekbones. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not trying to pry, I'm genuinely interested. I know you two are back to being friends at least, which is good."

"Well…" Sophie decided she had to tell her sometime and it may as well be now. "Something did come up actually."

Edaline grinned. "Oh! I don't mean to interrupt you, dear, but what do you think of this one?"

She held up a deep pinkish purple sleeveless A-line dress with crystals edging a sweetheart neckline.

"Not for me right? It's a pretty dress, but not for me."

"Oh, no, this is for me. Grady and I's anniversary is coming up and I wanted something a little...racy, if you get what I mean, preferably sleeveless. Do you think this would look good on me?"

Sophie studied it for a few seconds. "Yeah! It's a little brighter than what you usually wear, but I think it'll really make your eyes and hair pop. I think Dad'll really like it."

"I think he will too." Edaline draped the dress over her arm. "You were saying?"

"Well, the meadow he took me to was so pretty. I projected it into my notebook, so I can show you later. But he…" Sophie had no reason to pause except for effect. "He asked me out."

"He did?"

"And I said yes."

"Oh my goodness!" Edaline squealed, not too loudly so she wouldn't disturb the other customers. "You two are going out?"

"Next Saturday, yeah. We're going to a really nice restaurant in Eternalia."

Her mom sighed dreamily. "What are you planning to wear?"

"I actually don't know. I've got dresses, but I never wear any of them and I don't know if they're special enough, you know? and I don't think any of Jolie's old dresses will look good on me, since we have different colourings."

Edaline pulled her over to a different rack. "Well, we know you look good in red, but that seems a little…saucy for a first date. I have a red dress that doesn't fit me anymore that will probably fit you. It's sleeveless with a corset bodice and A-line skirt. It's beautiful, but not for this time."

Sophie blushed again, thinking of how much skin that style would show and that her and Fitz's relationship might ever get to the point where that would be appropriate. "What were you thinking?"

"Something like this?" Her mother pulled a ballgown that reminded Sophie of her human mother's prom dress in the picture that sat on the bookshelf under the TV. It was pale green, kind of plain compared to some of the others on the rack. There were several layers of sheer fabric and tulle layered over the silk skirt and brushing the floor. The V-neckline was a little low on the hanger, but would probably be okay on her. There was no true sleeve, but it had three or four layers of sheer, pale green fabric stretching from the lacing in the back to the point of the neckline. There were vines of embroidered flowers stretching up from the waist to where the neckline ruffles met and stretching down the skirt in three places.

"That's…really pretty. I like that a lot. Am I able to try it on?"

"Of course! Over here." Edaline led her to the small curtained rooms set into one wall.

The fabric was smooth as Sophie slid it over her head. It didn't catch on her hair and settled nicely on her waist. She needed help doing up the lacing in the back, but when she turned to look at herself in the mirror, her mouth fell open. The ruffles lay in gentle folds on her shoulders, covering enough skin on her chest to be plenty modest, but while still showing some skin. The bodice sucked in her waist a little and flowed out into the full skirt, gently brushing the floor all the way around, but with plenty of space underneath so she wouldn't step on it trying to walk.

"Oh wow." Sophie couldn't make words work.

"Oh my." Edaline was slightly choked up. "You look amazing."

"I…I feel like a princess. This feels awesome and I look beautiful."

"You really do. We can look at other dresses if you want to, but this really does look gorgeous on you, and it fits too."

"No, I think this is it. I love it. Although, I don't think I have any shoes that'll really match it and I don't wear jewelry, so I haven't got any of that."

Edaline grinned. "Don't worry. We can go shopping for all of those. Do you want to buy the dress?"

She nodded. "Yes. Let me change out of it and we'll buy it."

Getting out of the dress was much simpler than getting into it. Sophie initially balked at the price tag, but Edaline reassured her it was fine, cheap even.

"Do you want to try the other one on, Mom?"

"Oh, yeah, I did." She handed Sophie the green dress and took the purple one they'd found earlier into the changing room. After a minute she asked, "Dear, can you do the back up please? I can't quite reach."

"Sure." Sophie set down her dress and peek around the curtain. Edaline was standing with her back to her, one hand holding up the front of the dress and the other keeping her amber hair out of the way. There was a long pale scar curving down her spine.

"What happened to your back?" she asked as she fastened the stupidly tiny buttons.

"Oh, that scar on my spine? That's from when we got our first T-rex. I didn't know how to handle them yet and it got me across the back. It wasn't deep or serious, but I was still in bed for a while. Grady was terrified. He doesn't really panic, at least not to the degree he was. There were a few veins and arteries hit, so there was apparently a lot of blood and it looked way more serious than it actually was. I was out for a few hours since I hit my head on the ground. But it was thanks to that injury, more Grady's subsequent clinginess, that I got pregnant with Jolie about three weeks after I was given clearance to move around more. Although, we did reopen the wound, so my physician wasn't happy about that."

"It wasn't Elwin?"

"No, he wasn't Foxfire physician until a month or so after that. We switched over after Jolie ate something and took her to him because we couldn't figure out what was wrong."

"Okay. There, I'm done."

Edaline let her hair down and turned to look in the mirror. "Wow, that's a little lower cut than I thought it would be, and it's a pushup. I might need a cowl or something when I'm in public."

She was right. While it was a beautiful dress, hugging the curve of her waist, it did show a little more skin than strictly necessary for a sleeveless dress. Sophie felt a little embarrassed and kept her eyes firmly on her foster mother's face. "It looks good on you though."

"Yeah it does. I wasn't expecting this colour to work for me so well. Grady and I haven't really gone out or done anything for our anniversary in years. I don't know if he actually remembers it's coming up. But in two or three weeks, I can't remember today's date, we will have been married for fifty years."

"Fifty years?" Sophie had a bit of trouble reconciling such a large number with some who could have easily passed for under twenty-five, maybe twenty. But then she remembered that Jolie had been eighteen or nineteen when she died and Alden had said she'd been gone for around twenty years, which rounded to about forty years. So fiftieth anniversary wasn't that farfetched.

"Yeah. I can't believe it's been that long. It feels like yesterday he was making me blush in lunch when we were at Foxfire together. We were a few levels apart, so we didn't have a lot of time together in school, but the time we did have, he was always the gentleman. Can you believe he used to be the major ladies' man, kind of like Keefe is now?"

"Really?"

"Oh yeah." Edaline turned in the mirror, checking the way the fabric lay across her back and bum. "Are you kidding? He was a shameless flirt with every girl until we left school, but he had absolutely no dignity when it can to me. We lost contact until we saw each other's names on our match lists. I think I'll buy this. Even if I don't end up wearing it in public, I'm going to enjoy making him go speechless again."

Sophie closed the curtain again to allow her privacy while she changed and they paid for the dresses.

Since the store didn't sell shoes, they went across the street. Sophie settled on a pair of low heels in the same colour as the dress, with jewel flowers along the edge and on the toe. Purchases in hand, they went to several different jewelry establishments, but nothing really felt right. Edaline told her they could always try her collection and all the old necklaces and things stored away in boxes.

"So what are you wanting to do with your hair?"

Sophie blew out a breath, mind blanking. "I haven't really had a chance to think about it. Simple low updo maybe? I think that could be pretty."

"Okay. So simpler earrings, single pendant necklace?"

"Yeah. That sounds nice."

When they finally returned to Havenfield with the new shoes and dresses, Grady was obviously confused as to what the occasion was.

"You haven't gone shopping at that store in a while. Is something happening?"

"Yes actually." Edaline set their bags on the floor. "Don't you remember?"

He shook his head slowly, understanding that there was something he was supposed to remember and clearly blanking on it.

"Three weeks from now?"

"I'm sorry, I really don't remember."

"Really? The date December 6th means nothing to you?"

Grady was scrambling to figure out what his wife meant. "I really don't get it. What's on that date?"

"It's our anniversary, dear. Our _fiftieth_ anniversary." Edaline stressed the word, walking toward him and setting her hands on his hips. "Did you really not remember?"

"No." He pecked her lips. "But thank you for reminding me. What's in the other bag? Is that one for Sophie?"

"Yes. Sophie actually has something she'd like to tell us."

"Oh boy."

"Exactly."

Grady's eyes went wide and his gaze snapped to Sophie. "Please tell me she's joking."

Sophie shook her head. "She's…not. Do you want to sit down?"

"Do I?"

She decided to forge ahead. "I have a date, next Saturday. Fitz is taking me out to a nice restaurant in Eternalia. That's what the dress is for."

Grady gaped. "You're kidding right?" When neither of them said anything, he asked, "You're serious?"

"Well, yeah Dad. I actually have a date."

"Okay. You'll…have to give me a moment. Wow."

"What?"

"Nothing. It's a shock is all." He hugged Edaline briefly and then reached for Sophie. "Come here, kiddo."

Sophie hugged her parents tightly, feeling them hug her back. She sighed, relaxing into the embrace of her family.

"Do you mind if I have a talk with him before then?"

"Dad…"

"I don't have to if you don't want me to. I just know he can have control issues sometimes and I want to make sure he treats you right."

She smiled. "I don't mind. Just don't scare him off."

"If _I_ scare him off, then find somebody else. When I'm not working with the animals, I'm about as intimidating as Ella. I don't think you have to be worried."

"Still." Sophie pecked them each on the cheek. "I have a paper I need to finish. My Multispeciesial teacher assigned an essay over midterms. I'm going to go get it done."

Edaline smiled. "Look at you, so responsible! Are you sure you don't want to look through jewelry now?"

"Maybe later. I want it out of the way. I don't have anything Wednesday, right? Amy is bringing over _How To Train Your Dragon 2_."

"You're clear that day, I think." Grady confirmed.

"Great. See you guys at dinner."

**Things are starting to heat up! And poor Keefe's having a bad day. :( Reviewers get teasers for the next chapter. (let me know if you don't want one.)**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	9. Nine

**Little bit of a filler/transition chapter here. There'll be more substance next time.**

"Sophie!" Her door banged open. "Sophie get up!"

"Ugh. How early is it?"

"Late. Get out of bed, lazybones."

"Good morning to you too Amy. And I'm going." Sophie pulled herself out of the nest of covers she'd made. "What time is it?"

"It's like ten. Aunt Edaline said you stayed up late working on homework."

"Did you just call her 'Aunt' Edaline?"

"Yeah. I thought it fit. Should I not?"

"Ask her. I don't care." She yawned. "Leave me alone so I can get dressed."

Amy sat down on her bed. "You have a giant walk-in closet, remember?"

"Yeah." Sophie stumbled out of bed and over to her closet. "So what are you doing here?"

"I have obtained all the Ranger's Apprentice books, along with Brotherband, The Early Years, and Royal Ranger on audiobook. I wanted to drop them off. Also, is Fitz your boyfriend now?"

Sophie paused, pulling her shirt on slowly. "Why do you ask?"

"Cause there's a thing of flowers sitting on your desk with a note. It says it's from him."

She finished getting dressed quickly and went to see what Amy had found. There was indeed a vase of flowers on her desk with a card stuck to the ribbon fastened around the container. A tulip fell out and Sophie wedged it back in between an iris and hydrangea.

The note read _'I heard you like the language of flowers. Hope this says something nice. Love, Fitz.'_

Amy tried to read the card over Sophie's shoulder. "What did he say?"

"Well, the real message is in the flowers. I was obsessed with the Victorian language of flowers for a few months. I was talking to Biana about it and he must have found out."

"Oh yeah, I remember now. You spent a ton of time at the florist. So what's it say?"

Sophie bit her lip. "Well there's tulips, which are 'declaration of love', irises are 'my compliments, hydrangeas are 'heartfelt', there's actually a pretty good mix in here. The purple and white roses on the edges are super sweet. Roses themselves are love but purple is also 'love at first sight' and white is 'purity and innocence'."

"What's this one?" Amy pointed to a red and white flower with pointed petals.

"That's an amaryllis. They mean 'splendid beauty' I think. The stem at the top is gladiolus, which is 'strength of character'."

"Why is he giving you these? I mean, the message is clear, but you put so much effort into making it clear to me that Sophie Foster is very much a single Pringle." Amy grinned. "So, what's the tea?"

"What are you talking about? What tea?"

"It's Internet slang. It's a thing now."

"No it's not."

"Sophie, you're sixteen now right? You left when you were twelve. The Internet has changed a lot. I'm asking for the juicy details."

"Which you are not getting. I'm dressed, I'm assuming you have the audiobooks, so let's go."

Amy sighed. "Are you just going to leave the flowers here? They look like they need more water."

"Fine. We'll water the flowers and then we'll go." Sophie sighed and picked up the vase. "It is a pretty bouquet. Fitz did a good job. I wonder where he got the flowers."

"Are you guys dating now?"

"I said I'm not telling you."

"Who am I going to tell?"

"You have the ability to tell anyone you want. I'll probably tell Keefe depending on how he feels, because the only person he can tell is a Telepath, which is currently me and Fitz."

"So you _are_ dating?"

Sophie sighed. "Fine. Yes. Fitz and I are technically dating. Our first date is next Saturday. And before you ask, you are not getting any more information than that."

Amy pouted. "Fine. But I'm still super excited."

Sophie rolled her eyes, following her sister downstairs. Grady was looking through the audiobooks on the counter. He looked up when they came down.

"That shirt is a little low-cut for in public, Sophie."

She looked down. "Dad, this is half an inch lower than the one I was wearing the other day that you were fine with. Like, an eighth of a inch of cleavage. It is not too low."

"Yes it is."

"Besides, I'm not going out in public. I'm going to drop the audiobooks off with Amy and to Everglen to thank Fitz for the flowers. That's it.

Edaline poked her head around the wall from the kitchen. "Grady, that is not too low. If you were fine with Jolie wearing a sleeveless dress at sixteen, then what Sophie is wearing is fine. You see more because you're taller than her."

"So is Fitz."

"Grady."

"Fine."

Sophie brought the vase into the kitchen. "Mom, Fitz brought these flowers for me. Aren't they pretty?"

Edaline looked over and set her knife down. "Oh, Sophie, they're gorgeous! I was wondering what he had when he came by earlier this morning."

"He apparently researched the language of flowers, it's a human thing, and this is what he came up with. It's really sweet."

"So what does it say?" She went back to slicing the long thin fruits on her cutting board.

"There's tulips, irises, amaryllis, roses, hydrangeas, and gladiolus. The flowers all individually mean different things. Tulips mean 'declaration of love', irises are 'my compliments' amaryllis is splendid beauty, gladiolus is strength of character, roses are 'love' but they mean different things based on the colour. Purple is 'love at first sight' and white is innocence. And the last one, hydrangeas, mean 'heartfelt."

Edaline smiled. "That is sweet. Be sure to thank him. I'll water these and put them back up in your room for you."

"Thanks Mom!"

"Come on Sophie! Let's go!"

"I'm coming Amy!" She left the kitchen and Amy hauled her outside with her free hand.

"Do the flashy thing!"

Sophie stopped in the middle of pulling out her pathfinder. "The flashy thing?"

"Yeah."

"It's called light leaping Amy." But she complied and leapt both of them to Candleshade.

Linh was sitting on the steps, playing with a ball of water. She looked up when they glittered onto Candleshade's grounds. "Hey!"

"Hey Linh. Is Keefe okay?"

"Yeah. He's fine. I think he's playing on the Switch with Tam. Ro was watching something really bloody, I think she said it was called _Deadpool. _I'm waiting for her to finish. What's that?"

"This," Amy hefted the stack of cases. "Is all of the Ranger's Apprentice on audiobook. Every single one. Also…" She pulled out two DVD cases. The top one had a suspicious black dragon on it. "This is _How To Train Your Dragon 2_ AND _How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World_. It _just_ came out on Blu-Ray and I bought the first copy I found. Mom and Dad haven't seen it yet, since they're waiting for it to go to the dollar theaters. I saw it with some friends opening weekend. Also, I'll have to take a second trip for it, but I also have popcorn because what is the completion of the greatest movie trilogy ever imagined and put to the big screen without popcorn?"

Sophie grinned. "They made a third one?"

"Yeah. Toothless gets a girlfriend."

"Ack!" Sophie covered her ears. "No spoilers!"

Amy laughed. "It's in the trailers dork. I'm not spoiling anything."

Linh smiled. "I hope Ro's done with that movie. She said it was rated R for 'Ro'."

"It's actually not, the R stands for 'Restricted'. It means that movie theaters won't let kids in to see it without parents if they're under 17. But it could also stand for Ro, since anything with that rating is something Keefe should not be watching." Sophie stretched out her mind to contact Ro. She wasn't supposed to, but since Keefe was often sleeping or generally out of it, she had learned how to contact Ro instead.

_Hey, is the movie over with?_

Ro took a few seconds to answer. _No, but I'm going to wrap it up and finish it tonight. It's a little too bloody for elves._

_Okay. Amy, Linh and I are headed up. Is Fitz there?_

_Lose your boyfriend again?_

Sophie sighed quietly. _No. I'm wanting to know if I have to make a second stop or not._

_Come up here and find out for yourself._

She shut down the connection. "She's putting it away. Let's head up."

Amy handed her some of the audiobooks. "If we're taking the vortinator, you guys are going to have to hold some of these or they are going to go flying everywhere."

"Okay." Linh took a few of the cases, holding them securely.

Sophie flicked the door open telekinetically and yelled, "Floor 156!" as soon as all three of them were on.

Ro had indeed shut off the movie by the time they got to Keefe's room. She was kneeling in front of the bookcase, trying to figure out where it went. Sophie pulled out _Deadpool 2_ telekinetically for her to show her where it went.

Keefe was looking much better than he had a few days ago. He was having very little trouble manipulating the buttons and knob on the Switch controller and managing short words and sentences between him and Tam.

"Hey Keefe. You must be feeling better." Sophie sat down on the edge of his bed, hoping the small movement of his body wouldn't hurt too much.

He gave her a shaky thumbs up and pointed to his head. She took the hint and formed a telepathic connection.

_I'm feeling way better! Sadly I know it can only get worse from here, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. That's my main mindset right now. Enjoy the good stuff as it happens._

"That's awesome. Amy's here. Are you up for learning a little sign language?"

_Yeah! Let me finish this race. My dexterity isn't great, which is why I've been losing, but hey, I have minor movement back, at least for now._

"I wouldn't expect it to be up to your normal standards. This is the first time you've been able to move them. I mean, without screaming."

_Ha HA! Take that! I just blueshelled Tam._

Tam groaned. "What'd you do that for? I'm in last place now."

Keefe held up a single finger and then pointed to himself.

"Yeah. I know you're in first. I can see it on the screen."

One of the computer controlled players knocked Keefe off the track and he respawned in fifth place. He pouted.

Amy reached over and tugged Sophie's sleeve. "Hand me those audiobooks so I can put them away."

Sophie handed her the stack.

_Are those new audiobooks for me?_

"Yeah. Ranger's Apprentice."

_Awesome, I was almost out. Fitz has been borrowing some of your books, the Ranger's Apprentice ones, and reading them aloud to me, but his English reading isn't great and sometimes he mistranslates and it doesn't make sense._

Tam stuck the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, squinting at the Switch's screen. "Almost...Ha! First place!"

_Again._ Keefe gave Tam a thumbs down.

"Sore loser." Tam slid the controllers back onto the side of the Switch and put it away. "Hey Sophie."

"Hey Tam. How are things going?"

"Pretty good. We have Glimmer sorted."

Amy plopped down on the edge of Keefe's bed on the opposite side from Sophie. "You can hear me right?"

He gave her a thumbs up.

"Okay. If you're up for it, I can teach you a bit of basic sign language."

Another thumbs up.

"Great. Sophie told me you use basically the same alphabet, so I'll start with that."

Sophie left them to their conversation and walked over to Tam, who was looking through the small stack of games for the Switch.

"Sophie, what's Legend of Zelda?" He held up _Breath of the Wild_.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I've heard of it, but I've never played it. I think Amy enjoys it."

"Okay. I might have her show me later if she has time. Do you know much about these games?"

Sophie shook her head. "I didn't play them. I was kind of the boring kid. I didn't like playing with other kids, because their thoughts hurt too much. I didn't like TV shows or movies or video games or any YouTubers. People left me alone and I left them alone."

He nodded, voice dropping almost too quiet to hear. "Can we talk telepathically? I have a question I'm too nervous to ask if Keefe might overhear."

"Okay." Sophie lowered her voice out of respect. "But you really don't have to worry. He might act callous toward you, but he's actually really careful not to hurt anyone. On purpose anyway." She reached out and formed the telepathic connection, being careful to keep away from reading the thoughts he didn't send her. _But we can still talk telepathically._

_Thank you._ His mind was surprisingly shadow-free for a Shade._ This is kind of awkward for me, but I figured you're the person I should talk to. I would normally talk to Linh, but… this is different._

_You don't have to explain yourself to me. Just say what you need to say and I'll listen._

He smiled, carefully stacking the games he'd been looking at and putting them back on the shelf._ It has to do with Glimmer._

_Okay_. Sophie forced her emotions to remain neutral and not show on her face.

_Well, I caught her will her hood off by accident and…_ He paused to gather his thoughts. _Well, we already knew she has long black hair, but… I didn't expect her to be pretty._

_I don't want to jump to conclusions, but are you saying what I think you're saying?_

He gave her a look out of the corner of his eye. _No. I do not have a crush on Glimmer. I just did not expect her to be that pretty. I'm not going to show you her face, out of respect for her privacy._

_Don't worry, I wasn't going to ask._

_Okay. I know marriage and kids aren't for me, much to Linh's dismay. She wants nieces or nephews. But Glimmer's actually a really pretty young woman. And I'm not sure how I feel anymore._

Sophie squashed the little trail of thought in her mind before it could gather any ground. _Give it time. Most likely, it'll work itself out._

_And if it doesn't?_

_Well… if it doesn't, Linh might get her wish anyway. But I don't think that'll happen._

_Okay. Thank you._ Tam gave her a small smile. _PLEASE, please don't tell anyone. I don't want anyone else to know._

_Promise. Anything else?_

_No. Thank you._

_Don't worry about it. Anytime._ She broke the connection and continued answering his questions about the games and movies in front of them while Amy behind them taught Linh, Keefe and Ro sign language. It was more peaceful that she appreciated it being.

**Don't forget to drop a review before you go! It takes like two seconds of your time and it makes my day. Also, reviewers will get a teaser from the next chapter! (Let me know if you don't want one.)**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	10. Ten

**This chapter took longer to write than I thought. So if you were hoping for first-date fluff, that'll have to wait until next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

Sophie knew elves loved fancy stuff. She knew that they had a love of jewelry. But she wasn't prepared for a large chest in Jolie's room to unfold into a jewelry box larger than she was.

"Okay. That's a lot of jewelry."

Edaline smiled. "She got a lot as gifts that she never wore. The things she actually wore often are in the small box on her desk. She was just too nice to throw any of it away. She actually got a lot of pretty things, she just never wore them."

"So where do we start?"

"What do you want?" Her mother pulled out a few boxes of necklaces, apparently sorted by jewel. "I was thinking something small for a necklace, so it doesn't take away from the dress, and a pair of earrings."

Sophie opened a box marked _Sapphire_. It was full to bursting of all different styles of necklaces, all of them set with sapphires. "How about pearls? I don't really want a necklace, but earrings are okay. Do elves have clip-on earrings? I had pierced ears a while ago, but I don't know if they're healed over or not."

"Anything you like I can have modified. There are a few family heirlooms I won't change, but other than that, anything."

Sophie put the sapphire box back on the shelf. She wasn't sure what to do with the sheer volume of stuff in front of her. Her human mother hadn't owned very much jewelry. She'd allowed Sophie and Amy to get their ears pierced for their first day of kindergarten, so they'd had a small array of stud earrings with various fake crystals on them. She wasn't sure she'd seen this great of a range even in a jewelry store.

"Garnets maybe?"

Both of them jumped when Grady suddenly spoke behind them.

"The clash of colours might work on you." He reached over Sophie's shoulders and pulled out a different, smaller box from another section of the massive jewelry box. "I think Jolie had a pair of gold chandelier earrings in here."

Grady opened the box and lifted a delicate pair of earrings out. "What do you think?"

Sophie took them from him. "They might be a little heavy for my ears, but I love them. I'll have to see if my ears are still pierced."

There was a loud banging on the door and Grady almost dropped the box of earrings. Edaline walked over and opened the door. Sophie heard the panicked voice of one of the gnomes that worked on the new animals.

"I can take care of this, Grady." Edaline left, closing the door behind them.

"So, Sophie-"

"Dad, I'm sorry it interrupt, but please don't start the boys conversation."

He laughed. "I wasn't going to. I just want to make sure you're in good hands. Can you really blame me?"

"No." Sophie pulled a box off the shelf marked _Pearls_. "It's just not really something I want to talk to you about."

"I understand. I apologize if I've been poking my nose where it doesn't belong. I'm a little antsy after what happened to Jolie. I want to make sure you're safe."

"I get it." She decided she didn't like any of the pearl necklaces and slid the box back onto the shelf. "You know Fitz. He'll be sure to take care of me and I've only committed to one date. If I decide not to go on a second one, he'll understand."

Grady sighed. "I know that. But I'm still worried. Do you know where he's taking you?"

"No, actually. He said a nice restaurant in Eternalia, but that's not super specific."

"Ah. There are a lot of good places there. Wonder where he's taking you."

"Well I'll find out next Saturday. He's picking me up at four."

"Okay. What colour is your dress? Pink sapphire tends to go with everything."

Sophie set the garnet earrings aside. "It's mint green, so maybe. But unless it's a single pendant necklace, it might get lost in the ruffle."

"Okay." Grady sighed. "Do you want any of the rest of Jolie's jewelry? I know you're not big on fancy things, but if you want them you can have them."

Rapid footsteps ran to the door and Edaline slammed it open. "So it's a lot worse than I thought. Grady, I really need your help and Sophie, dear, if you could keep the alicorns out of the way, that would be great."

"Sure, Mom!" Sophie set the earrings on Jolie's old desk where she could find them again. Grady pressed a hidden button on the jewelry box and it folded back down into a chest. They followed Edaline downstairs.

Outside, the gnomes were attempting to restrain a large argentavis from flying away. A few of them were dangling from ropes. Wynn was flapping around and generally making himself a nuisance.

"Sophie, get Wynn out of the way." Grady instructed, moving to help one of the gnomes dangling off the ground.

Sophie reached out telepathically to Wynn. _Get out of the way!_

_Fun!_ Over the last year, the alicorn twins had started learning basic words. So far, their favorite words were 'no' and 'fly away'.

_Danger!_

_No! Fun!_

Sophie groaned. "He won't leave!"

"Is there a friend you could call over that he might like?" Edaline yelled over the noise.

"I'll try that!" She refocused on the yearling alicorn. _Would you like a friend to visit?_

_Friend?_

_One friend, yeah!_

_Choose?_

_Sure!_ Sophie sighed in relief as Wynn drifted away from the thrashing argentavis. _Which friend do you want?_

_Bright-silver-hair-nice-girl!_

That wasn't a name, but she guessed he meant Linh. _She can come over, but you have to go find your sister and wait away from the argentavis._

_Big-nice-bird! Sad!_

Sophie held up her Imparter. _I won't hail Linh unless you leave the big-nice-bird alone._

He pouted. But Wynn glided away from them and landed near the Panakes.

Keeping her word, Sophie said, "Show me Linh Song." Her Imparter took a few seconds to respond, but flickered to show Linh's face.

"Hey Sophie! Is something wrong? You looked stressed." Linh assumed the worst and panicked. "Did something happen to Keefe?"

"No, no, Keefe's fine. I was visiting him earlier today and he was complaining and griping, so he's fine. It's about the alicorns. They keep getting in the way and I made a deal with Wynn that if he left the gnomes alone, you would come over. He's getting antsy and I don't want him bothering them while they're transporting the new argentavis. Are you able to come over?"

Linh grinned. "Yeah! My parents wanted to take Tam and I out to lunch to work on fixing our relationships and I've been scrambling for an excuse. Thanks!"

Sophie hung up and Linh glittered into Havenfield a few seconds later.

"That was fast."

"I told my parents I had to go and just left. Tiergan can deal with them."

They walked over to Calla's Panakes tree. The alicorns were prancing around it. They whinnied loudly when they saw Linh.

To Sophie's surprise, the twins weren't as interested in playing with Linh as they were showing her all the things they could do now. So they sat under the tree and talked.

"So, I heard from Biana that you're going out with Fitz."

Sophie sighed. Of course Fitz would mention it to his sister and Biana was terrible about keeping these kinds of secrets. "Yes. It's just one date. We don't know if things will work out. But yes, we are going out tomorrow."

Linh squealed quietly. "Oh my gosh! That's so awesome. I just kind of wish you'd pushed it back like two more days."

"Why?"

"Dex and I made a bet when you guys would finally go on a date-date. Two more days and I would have won. So now I owe him a thing of ripplefluffs."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Do you have an eye for colour?"

"Yes? I would say I do, but according to Tam I've put together some horrendous combinations, so I don't know."

"I'm having trouble finding the right jewel colour to go with my dress. I already ruled out most of them and decided on no necklace, but Jolie had so many earrings that they're sorted by type _and_ stone."

"What's it look like? I'm pretty good at matching dresses and jewelry, but Biana is way better than me. She always looks amazing."

"Actually, she's terrible at colour theory. Her mom does a lot of it for her and apparently Alvar taught her what goes together. Biana told me she actually misses Alvar's eye for colour. She said he was really good at it." Sophie sent Linh a mental picture of the dress.

Linh squealed again. "Oh my gosh, it's so pretty! Do you have any ideas?"

"Dad said maybe garnets; the clash might work on me. Mom said pearls."

"I think garnets would look amazing on you, regardless. If you're gonna do something more elaborate with your hair and makeup, you might want a simple earring, single dangling stone or if you're doing a simple updo, I'd go with chandelier earrings. But for that shade of green, I'm not sure about a specific stone. That's a hard colour to match. I might go with the garnets, honestly. I don't pull off light greens well. Certain blues I can do, but green's just not a great colour for me."

Sophie was surprised how much their conversation meandered, considering she and Linh had never been the closest of friends. Somehow, they got onto the topic of human science.

"So why did you add the baking soda then?"

"Well, when you add a base and an acid together, it turns all fizzy and foamy. Really good for volcano experiments."

"But why?"

Sophie grinned. "Because making things explode, even on such a small and harmless scale, is fun. You can also put old CDs in the microwave and it flashes all different colours. It ruins the CD though, and sometimes the microwave, so you have to make sure it's one you don't want. Diet Coke and Mentos is also fun, but Amy and I were never allowed to do it because it made too much of a mess, even outside."

Linh stared off into the distance. "Elves don't really do stuff like that. Or at least Tam and I were never allowed to."

"Amy would probably be happy to show you. It's an outside project though."

"I guessed that. Hey, where'd you get that necklace? It's really pretty."

"Thanks." Sophie reached up and ran her thumb over the pendant of the teal heart necklace Fitz had given her. "Fitz gave it to me."

Linh smiled. "He has good taste. It looks good on you. Hey, did you notice there's gold sparkles in it?"

"No I didn't." Sophie lifted the pendant up to the light and tilted it back and forth, watching the light play off the tiny specks of glitter embedded in it. "Wow. By the way are you free today?"

"Yeah, unless Tam convinces me to give our parents a chance, which I don't think will happen. Did something happen?"

"Nothing big. I have to help Mom and Dad with the new argentavis and then finish what we were doing before it got out of hand. I was supposed to head back over to Keefe's after we were done, but I don't know if I'll be able to go. Do you mind going for me, if he's up for it?"

Linh grinned "Not at all! Amy said she was coming and maybe I can ask her to bring some stuff so we can try some of those experiments. They sound fun."

"Maybe. You'd have to contact her soon though. It's past noon by now. Dex said he's only free until about one-thirty." Sophie checked the watch Amy had given her. "It's earlier than I thought actually. It's only 12:45. But you'd have to hail her within the next half an hour in case she doesn't have everything on hand."

"Okay. Can I borrow your Imparter? I dropped mine behind my bed and I can't get it out."

"Yeah, sure." Sophie reached into her pocket and pulled out the small silver square. "I always keep one on me as a precaution. Elwin had a brief scare with Keefe's health and I'd left my Imparter at home. It was really scary hearing it from Fitz and not knowing what was going on. He was fine, just having a bad day, but it still scared me enough to always have on within arm's reach."

Linh shivered. "I try not to think about the fact that Keefe has a good chance of dying from this and there's nothing we can do about it. I might start carrying an Imparter too, even if I end of stealing Tam's." She took the Imparter from Sophie and stood. "I'll go hail Amy and head over to Candleshade. Do you know who took the morning shift?"

"Dex and I think Juline. We try to have two people besides Ro there at all times. There's a gnome who's moved into a small alcove built into the wall if something goes wrong while Keefe's asleep, Ro can send someone for a physician without having to leave Keefe alone."

"Okay. Thanks!" Linh went to find a quiet spot and Sophie stood, walking toward the house. The argentavis had been calmed down and restored to its pen about an hour ago, but they'd kept talking.

Sophie wasn't sure where Grady and Edaline were, but when she noticed their door was closed when it normally wasn't, she decided they probably wanted to be left alone.

She went back upstairs to Jolie's room. A few of the gnomes were sorting through some of the stuff Sophie had yet to look through. She waved to them and reopened the jewelry box.

It took a while for her to make up her mind, but she eventually settled on the garnet earrings Grady had picked out. Linh came upstairs to return her Imparter briefly before leaving.

"Amy's gonna bring the stuff. Will you be coming?"

"Later. I need to work on cleaning up. I want to clear this room out, maybe make it a guest room. We haven't decided what we want to do with it yet."

"Okay. See you later, Sophie."

"See you later Linh." Sophie closed up the jewelry box and asked the gnomes to take it up to her room to be sorted through at a later date. Biana and Edaline had demolished the stockpile of dresses, so Sophie and a gnome named Briar started on the shoes. Most of them were in good condition, but Jolie's feet were absolutely tiny and so none of her shoes fit Sophie.

About an hour later, Sophie checked the time and decided to head over to Candleshade. Ro was standing outside the front door for a change.

"Had enough of his moping?"

"Actually, he's in a pretty good mood and has been for the past few days. He's just got cabin fever is all. He's in plenty of pain and he hates that he can't do anything to distract himself. I think he wants to draw. That's what he used to do when he got antsy. And now he can't even hold a pencil." Ro sighed, looking upset.

Sophie punched her shoulder lightly. "Keefe's going to be fine. I'm sure Amy will figure out a way to make it work. She's good at the whole look-for-another-angle stuff."

"It's not that."

Sophie cocked her head. She'd never seen fear in any measure on an ogre's face before. "Are you scared?"

"No! Just unsettled. Ogres aren't babies when it comes to pain, but the way he described it, if I were in his place, I would be shamelessly bawling and have to be permanently sedated. He told me that if I broke every bone in his body in the most painful way possible, it would be an improvement over his current state. Most ogres, even my dad, can't handle more than ten broken bones at the same time without wanting sedatives; and other than the initial screaming while he was getting used to it, I have not heard a peep out of him. Not once. I respect him and elves a whole a lot more than I did before. If there's one things you guys do well, it's adapt. Most of you anyway."

Sophie smiled. "Did Amy teach you sign language? Is that how you were able to communicate?"

"Yeah. She did a little translating and we needed the Fitzter's help sometimes, but we've got basic words down, which is nice. Keefe's able to tell me how he's feeling and pick out movies or audiobooks or whatever he wants, which is a huge improvement."

"We should probably head upstairs. Linh had Amy bring some stuff over for human science experiments and they can be a bit messy. Not like blow-someone's-arm-off messy, but get-soda-everywhere messy."

"Sounds like fun."

Sophie knew what to expect whenever she walked into Keefe's bedroom and this wasn't it. Amy was wearing safety goggles and rubber gloves, as were Linh and Marella. There was a table in front of them with scorch marks from an explosion, Linh was holding a wall of water around her and Keefe, a section of Marella's hair was on fire, and Amy looked extremely excited over the obviously recent explosion.

"Would anyone mind telling me what's going on here?"

Marella was quick to point fingers. "It was Amy's idea!"

"Nuh uh! Linh started it!"

"Who, me? I'm the one who told you it was a bad idea! Lighting anything on fire indoors is a bad idea, let alone Everblaze, which-"

Sophie held up a finger to silence the bickering. "What's this about Everblaze?"

Keefe made the signs for 'fun' and 'explode'.

"Did you guys blow something up?"

Amy stuck her hands on her hips. "We didn't know it would do that. Lighting CDs on fire with just plain old fire isn't much fun. They just melt. Everblaze on the other hand…"

"Makes them blow up?"

Keefe gave her a thumbs up.

"Amy…"

"Don't go blaming me! Linh is the one who brought it up and she said you told her about it."

"I meant Coke and Mentos or baking soda and vinegar, not actual explosions!"

"Oh. I brought those too! But they're outdoor things. Lord Cassius would probably have a conniption fit if I got soda everywhere."

Keefe signed 'fun' again and spelled out 'do it' with shaky fingers.

Sophie transmitted, _You're getting good at that._

_Thanks! I'm having trouble with anything beyond three words at a time and sometimes my hands hurt too much, but I can communicate again! Tam said he's working on a way to extract the shadowflux from my hands so I can move them without hurting. No one wants to touch the quintessence until they know more about how it and the shadowflux have affected things. But I might be able to communicate entirely through sign language soon!_

_That is awesome, Keefe. I'm working with Amy over the Imparter so I can understand you._ Sophie glanced around the room as Amy, Linh and Marella went back to arguing whose fault the explosion was. The walls and ceiling weren't damaged, except for bits of the CD stuck in them in a few places. All of them looked unharmed, except for the black, short patch in Marella's hair. Keefe was having fun and being entertained, which was nice. She would have liked a less destructive manner of doing so, however.

"Hey, since you guys are so into science right now, how about we watch Big Hero 6?" Ro suggested, cutting through the argument.

Keefe signed, 'yes', 'wait' and 'friend'. He expanded in his thoughts. _I've been wanting to watch that movie, but I was waiting for you guys._

Ro made sure the three girls cleaned up their mess before Sophie popped the disc into the player.

The movie started with a faulty bulb in a street light. The camera cut to two robots, one black and one pink, beating the snot out of each other. The pink one was knocked flat and skidded to a stop in front of a teenage girl with bright pink pigtails sitting cross-legged on a mat, holding a remote controller. She made the robot get up and they two bots continued fighting, shot from a variety of angles, until the black robot sliced the pink one in half.

Several people exchanged money and a woman with her hair in a large bun and an eyepatch announced, _"The winner! Five total annihilations, Yama!"_

A large man in a sweatshirt and pants who had been in control of the black robot laughed and grabbed all the money from the plate the one-eyed woman was holding. _"Who's next? Who has the guts to step into the ring, with little Yama?"_ He held up his robot.

The camera cut to two young men who promptly hid their robots.

The camera went back to Yama and a young voice said, _"Can…I try?"_

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**Before you go, please drop a review! It makes my day and all reviewers get a teaser for next chapter.(Let me know if you don't want one.) I can't give you a teaser if it's a guest review. Sorry.**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	11. Eleven: First Date

**An entire chapter of first date fluffiness! If you do not ship Sophitz and have gotten this far, I would suggest skipping this chapter.**

Sophie tugged on one earlobe, staring at the back of her eyelids. It had been years since she'd worn earrings, and then it had been single small crystals, not these dangling gold ones that felt like they should be heavy, but weren't.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." Edaline said. The brush moved away from her face and Sophie opened her eyes. She could feel where the eyeshadow had gotten into her eye and it itched, but she resisted the urge to scratch it. She'd done that once and ended up with eyeliner and lavender powder streaked across her cheek. Biana had helped her fix it after PE. She hadn't worn eye makeup since.

Sophie stood and turned around. Vertina popped into the corner of the mirror and for once had nothing to say.

"Oh…my…gosh…" Sophie gazed openmouthed at herself in the mirror. Her hair was tied in a low knot on the back of her neck, with a white lotus flower carved out of mother-of-pearl set on the comb holding it in place. The makeup Edaline had chosen was striking and simple. A gentle smoky eye fading to gold on the inner corners paired with a darker lipstick than she'd thought. But with the dress, which fit even better now than it had before, it made her look more beautiful than she ever thought she could.

"Do you like it?"

"I…I look amazing! I don't want to cry cause it'll ruin all your hard work but…"

"Don't worry." Edaline smiled. "Elvin makeup is designed to be tear-proof and the ones I used are also supposed to be smudge-proof. I don't know if it's true, but I suppose you'll find out."

"Okay." Sophie wiped her eyes carefully. "Do you think Fitz is here? If he is, Dad's probably interrogating him."

"I'll go check. If he is here, I'll come up and let you know."

She took a deep breath. "Okay."

Edaline was only gone for a few minutes. She came back with a big grin on her face. "He's waiting for you."

It took Sophie a few tries to actually walk down the stairs. Some of it was nerves, some of it was figuring out how to walk gracefully in a large skirt and heels, even if they were low ones.

She saw Fitz before he saw her, thanks to the carpeted stairs muffling her footsteps. The dark blue tunic with gold edging complimented him well. His hair was styled more carefully than normal and he looked just as nervous as she was.

When he finally looked up, his mouth dropped open. He couldn't say anything until she had descended the stairs and was standing next to him.

"You…you look beautiful."

"Thanks. You look nice too."

Fitz didn't reply, just staring at her.

"Hey, you okay?"

"O-Oh yeah, I'm fine." He smiled and offered his arm.

She took it. "You look a little out of it is all."

"I've just never seen anyone look as beautiful as you do now."

Sophie blushed. Hearing the compliments from him made the reality of what was happening crash down on her. She was going on a date with Fitz. All those dreams of a child, wishing to get away from her world were coming true. Those stories she made up in her head after watching Cinderella, waiting and wishing for her Prince Charming to sweep her away.

And now he was here. It was happening.

Do you really think that about me? Fitz's soft voice whispered in her head.

Why are you reading my thoughts?

It wasn't on purpose, they just sort of…bled over into my head.

Oh. Well, yeah I do. It was a childhood dream I forgot about and it ended up coming true.

"Are you two going to leave or just stand there staring at each other?"

They cringed and Grady laughed. "Go on. You have two hours to talk about whatever is on your minds."

Fitz led her outside. The sun was working its was to setting and the air was balmy and cool.

"It's really nice outside."

"It'll be even nicer where we're going." He lifted the pathfinder to the light and leapt them away.

When they landed, Sophie's jaw dropped. "This place is beautiful."

The style of it was on par for everything else in the Lost Cities, but something about the graceful stairs sweeping around the side of the crystal building to the door, the large pavilion on the roof with tables, and the last wisps of sunset on the large lake on the other side of the building made it more magical. And reminded her of something, but she couldn't place what.

"It looks kind of like Cinderella's castle."

"Is that a good thing?"

Sophie laughed. "Yes it is."

Of course, people started whispering as soon as they walked in. Everyone knew who they were and no one bothered keeping their noses out of other people's business. Sophie shrunk against Fitz, staring at the floor.

"Fitz?"

"Hm?"

"Isn't this a little public? Not that I care, but people are going to talk."

He smiled, whispering into her mind. Let them talk. I guarantee most of them are just jealous. Because I am the luckiest guy in the world. Also, we have a private balcony reserved. So don't worry about it. I also took care of ordering ahead of time, since I know you're not picky, so it'll be just us.

Thank you.

The balcony table had a wonderful view of the sunset over the lake. Fitz waved a hand and telekinetically pulled her chair out for her.

"Someone's been practicing."

He smiled. "I wanted to be able to do that for you. I'm not super strong telekinesis-wise. I can throw a Splotcher, but that's my limit."

"Rivendell!"

"What?"

"Oh, sorry. I finally figured out what it reminded me of. Rivendell is an elven stronghold in Lord of the Rings. You'll see it when we watch the movies. Eventually. Once Keefe is over his Miraculous craze. Whenever that is."

Fitz laughed. "It's kind of cute."

"Has he told you what Amy, Linh, and Marella did yesterday?" Sophie stirred her drink with the straw.

He picked up on the inflections in her voice. "Oh no. What did they do? Keefe's okay, right? He seemed fine earlier today."

"Oh, they're all fine. Those dorks, well, Amy in particular, wanted to find out what would happen if you lit a CD, little metal and plastic disc, on fire. Well, they melt. So their next genius idea is to light it with Everblaze. Indoors. Without adult supervision. With only a Pyrokinetic student there in case something went wrong." Sophie shook her head, staring out over the lake as she sipped her drink.

"What happened?"

"It exploded. I really don't know what they thought would happen. None of them got hurt, except for a patch of Marella's hair caught fire. Ro made them clean it up. I made it very clear to them that nothing like that was to happen again, especially without supervision. But I think Amy's going to try something like that again."

Fitz sighed, staring at her. "I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"Huh?" She blinked, looking back at him.

"What did I ever do to deserve such a wonderful, beautiful woman?"

Sophie blushed. "Plenty of things. I don't know where to start."

"Like every time something in my life went wrong that I couldn't fix and I threw a fit and treated you horribly?"

"That's not true. It was only twice." She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Which is two times too many. I should've known better."

Sophie reached across the table and took his hand. "Fitz, if you're still beating yourself up over what happened why you dad's mind was broken, that was four years ago. You were fourteen. Don't tell me teenage hormones and general crap going on in your brain isn't a thing for elves, cause I'll know you're lying. Cut yourself some slack. You dealt with a really hard situation the best you could with the knowledge you had."

He sighed, squeezing her hand. "Thank you. But if I have to stop beating myself up over stuff that happened forever ago, then so do you. Especially for things that were not your fault."

"I thought you were going to say that." Sophie looked down at her lap.

Fitz let go of her hand and gently lifted her chin so she was forced to look him in the eye. "Really, Sophie. I probably don't remember a lot of the little things you wish you could've done better. Even if it was your fault, like you just told me, you did the best you could with the information you had. You were twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Younger than I was and you still dealt with it a lot better than I would be able to, even now."

She smiled, just now noticing the flecks of silver and green in the blue of his eyes. Little bits of imperfection that just enhanced the blue; adding depth to the colour and making her fall in love with it all over again.

It was probably just her, but everything about that moment seemed so much more than usual. The way the dying sunlight reflected off the lake. The gold ending on his tunic matching the gold highlights in his hair. The candlelight playing on the silver dishes, casting strange shadows on the floor and table.

A waiter interrupted to notify Fitz about something. He took care of it quietly, then turned back to her.

"So how did moving the new argentavis go? Wasn't that yesterday? Or the day before?"

Sophie grinned. "It was yesterday, and it went better than expected all things considered. She got into her pen okay without being hurt and Lynn and Wuna-"

"Lynn and Wuna?"

She groaned. "Words. Words aren't working. Wynn and Luna kept their noses mostly out, well once Linh came over they did. A couple of the gnomes almost got dragged off, but in the end everyone was fine. What was that about?"

"What?"

"The waiter. What was that about?"

Fitz shrugged. "I arranged for a dessert that apparently they are out of and cannot obtain more on such short notice, or that is what I was told. It's sorted out. Don't worry about it."

"Okay." Sophie raised an eyebrow when she noticed Fitz blush lightly and pointedly look upward when she leaned forward to reach something just slightly out of arm's reach. He continued to look everywhere but at her or stare very carefully at her eyes after she sat up.

She shrugged it off and leaned back, sipping on her drink as she stared out over the lake. The moon and starlight was reflected in the surface now that the sun had set.

"This place really is beautiful. You made a good choice." Sophie glanced back at him and smiled

"Th-Thank you." His blush crept up to his ears, turning them bright red and eyes avoiding hers.

"Hey are you okay? You look uncomfortable. Is something wrong?"

He jumped. "O-Oh, no, I'm okay, it's just-"

"Just what?" Sophie noticed his eyes briefly flick down to her chest and then back up to the sky. She glanced down and realized that when she had leaned forward, her dress had slipped and exposed a decent amount of cleavage. "Oh, sorry, let me fix that." She pulled the neckline back to where it should be and sat up straight to keep it there. "There. It's fixed now."

"Thank you." He looked back down at her face. "I did my best to keep my eyes to myself, but it was kind of hard."

"It's okay, I understand. If it slips again just let me know."

Their conversation lapsed into companionable silence, except for a few muttered words between them. Sophie sighed, truly content for the first time in a good long while. Every so often, she glanced over at Fitz and caught him smiling at her with a dreamy look in his eye. He always pretended he hadn't just been staring at her, but she found it sweet.

But, as all good things, their night came to an end. Eventually, after dessert, Fitz stood and offered his hand, pointing out it was getting late and they should be headed home.

Most of the other patrons had already left as they walked through the rest of the restaurant. The ones that were left were couples like themselves, all of whom were content to mind their own business.

"Do you want to take a walk through some of Eternalia before we go home?" Fitz slid his hand down her arm and took her hand.

"I thought we had to get home." Sophie grinned at him.

He sighed and smiled back. "We can go straight home if you want. But if we wait about five minutes, Biana will have given up and gone to bed and I won't be grilled when I get home."

She laughed. "I don't think I have to be anywhere tomorrow, except taking the morning shift with Keefe. But that's not something I have to be super rested for. We'll probably work on sign language and maybe watch another few episodes of Miraculous. I am so tired of that show. Amy said the next season coming out is rubbish, but Keefe will probably want to watch it anyway. Which I understand, but come on. Ro's actually learning English from watching all this stuff. I'm not sure if Keefe knew English before, but he certainly does now." She paused. "Why are you just staring at me?"

"Am I? Sorry." Fitz looked away, embarrassed. "I just love hearing you talk. Your voice is beautiful."

Sophie smiled. "Thanks."

He sighed. "You dad might be angry if you're home late, so I should probably get you home. Even though Biana is going to refuse to let me sleep until I have answered all her questions."

"Don't worry about it. You're welcome to stay for a bit." She squeezed his hand.

"Thanks." He dropped her hand and slid his arm around her waist, pulling her close. He held his pathfinder up to the light and whisked them back to Havenfield's pastures.

Grady was waiting downstairs when they walked in. He was half-asleep at first, but jerked awake when Fitz opened the door.

"You're home a bit late."

Sophie laughed. "No we're not. You're just tired from rehousing the vermillion again and fell asleep. Where's Mom?"

"In bed. I was waiting downstairs for you.

Fitz smirked at Sophie and she smiled. "Well I'm home now. I have to run up and change out of all this before I go to bed. Make sure he gets home in one piece, Dad." Sophie leaned up and kissed Fitz's cheek. He blushed, stumbling slightly as she dropped his hand and went upstairs.

As it turned out, her makeup and hair were low-fuss to get out of and the dress was easy to slip off her shoulder and over her hips.

Vertina yawned when Sophie stepped over to the mirror to take her earrings out. "How'd the date go?"

"I think it went well. I enjoyed it."

"Great. Please don't gush about how perfect your boyfriend is or all his wonderful qualities or how he can do no wrong to me. That is one trait of Jolie's I do not miss."

"Don't worry, Vertina. I won't." Sophie sighed, setting the earrings in a small box. "Goodnight."

**Little more plot next week. Question for y'all. Do you guys think Tam and Glimmer should be together or is Tam a single baby? Let me know what you think! And as always, reviewers get a teaser from the next chapter, assuming I have written it. *sigh* (Just let me know if you don't want one.)**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	12. Twelve: Playing Matchmaker

**I really need to keep myself on a schedule. I was up really late last nigh getting this finished for you guys. So if I miss anything, I apologize.**

* * *

Sophie sighed. Sign language was a lot harder than it looked. She and Keefe were trying to be able to communicate without telepathy and so far it wasn't going well. It didn't help that Amy's school let out a week after Foxfire did, so she wasn't available until that afternoon, if at all, depending on time zones and homework.

Keefe gave her a thumbs-down, his sign-language equivalent of grumbling.

"Yeah, I know, it's not going great. Do you want to watch something instead?"

He signed 'cat' and 'ladybug' then grinned at her.

"No, we're not watching Miraculous again. That's all you've wanted to watch for a week. It's probably almost out of episodes."

Keefe pouted. He scanned the shelves and sighed 'water' 'earth' 'fire' 'air' in quick succession.

"Avatar: The Last Airbender?"

Thumbs up.

"Maybe. Ro wanted to watch that one with us, so maybe wait until she gets back in a few hours? Anything else?"

He sighed 'ladybug' again and Sophie groaned. "Is there anything else, anything at all, you want to watch other than that show?"

Thumbs down.

"Anything you'd rather do?"

Keefe pointed to his head and she formed a telepathic connection.

_I forgot the signs we came up with for Dex and Biana's names. But you said they're in love and need a little push, didn't you?_

"Yeah…"

_I'd be happy with figuring out how to do that instead of watching Miraculous. It's getting kind of repetitive anyway. Person gets mad, Hawkmoth akumatizes person, person goes on rampage, Ladybug and Cat Noir show up and save the day while flirting and making stupid puns, Adrien and Marionette stay totally oblivious to each other's crushes and secret identities for the entire episode. That's about it._

Sophie laughed. "So, got any ideas?"

_Of course I do. I've been sitting her for six freaking months with nothing but my own brain and human stuff to keep me entertained. I've got plenty of ideas, getting increasingly as time passed strange to cope with my stupid brain. But I have plenty of normal ones too._

"What were you thinking?"

_Well, since exams were postponed until after the break for who-knows-what reason, there's totally the option of a neat gift. What does Biana like?_

"I like the idea. I'll ask her later today. Biana invited me over to Everglen later today. I think she just wants to grill me about Saturday."

_Sooo…what did happen Saturday?_

"Not you too. But I guess you can't really tell anyone and by the time you can it won't matter. Nothing big happened, but it was a step forward. I definitely think there is a second date in the future."

_Fitzy didn't mess it all up? Great! No kiss yet?_

"No, no kiss yet. But I will let you know when that happens."

_Great. So, Dex and Biana. Is there any chance you could get the Council to send them on a mission with just them? With the required escort of course, but you know what I mean._

Sophie grinned. "Maybe. We're strictly advisory right now, but maybe as a diplomacy practice thing with the goblins or something. I'll pass the idea on to Oralie and Bronte."

_Hey how did that thing with Oralie go like a year ago that you refuse to talk about? Somehow everyone knows but me._

She rolled her eyes. "She opened the wrong Forgotten Secret! The password she had was for something different and she couldn't figure out the password for the one she wanted to open. So in the end all she did was waste my time and hers. She's super embarrassed about it now."

_Huh. Biana likes necklaces, right?_

"Not as much as you'd think. Since we're in Level Five and all the boys have eyes now, she gets a lot of random gifts, almost all jewelry. If he got her something personalized or that clearly had thought put into it, she would absolutely love it, but she's not really into jewelry right now. I know she likes flowers."

_Hey! What are those little tiny bouquets that you can stick on stuff as decoration or girls tie on their wrists? I have no idea what they're called._

"Are you talking about a corsage?"

_I have no idea. But something less clunky than a full bouquet that still has the same meaning._

"I think you are. I think that'd be an awesome idea, especially using human flowers, so she knows it's from someone who cares."

_Why don't you hail Dex now and see if he has time to come over? It's pretty close to noon and not a school day._

Sophie grinned. "I think I will. He might be stuck cleaning his room again though. Juline told me he squirrels himself away for hours, trying to build something that'll help you be able to communicate. He apparently just leaves the mess there when he storms off to blow off steam after another idea doesn't work."

_That's super nice of him, but I honestly don't think he'll be able to make something work. That is just partly because I don't want to get my hopes up just to find out it's not going to happen, but if Dex can make something that would allow me to live relatively pain-free, that'd be amazing. I've gotten better at dealing with it, so the bad days aren't so bad, but there's always a new low. So you can only get so good at dealing with the pain._

Sophie resisted the urge to rub his arm. "But you are doing amazing. The fact that you're awake at all is incredible. Although, you're not looking so good right now." She noticed the creases of pain forming on his face. "Is it getting worse?"

_Yes. Just give me a second._ He closed his eyes, letting out a small whimper. _Remember what I said about new lows? I think I just found one._

"Do you want me to leave you alone so you can rest?"

_No, please don't. Hail Dex and do whatever you wanted to do, but I don't think I'll be able to participate. I don't think I can open my eyes at the moment, much less sign anything. Even my thoughts are hurting a little._

"Okay. You don't have to say anything else if you don't think you can."

He didn't answer. Sophie sighed and reached for her Imparter, leaving a tentative connection in case he said anything.

"Show me Dex Dizznee."

Dex didn't immediately answer, but when he did, there was a few tiny screws in his hair and what looked like machine grease smeared across his cheek. "Oh hey Sophie. I was wondering where my Imparter ended up. Thanks for helping me find it."

"No problem. Working again?"

"Yeah. I've kind of given up on a pain relieving device, so I'm working on mobility. If Tam is able to do the weird shadow thingy to make moving his hands pain-free for Keefe, I think I have a little remote control robot figured out that should help him get stuff and give him a little more independence."

"Cool. Hey, are you free right now? Like not working on anything that has a time constraint?"

His brow furrowed. "No, nothing I can't drop right now. Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, Keefe's about as fine as he can be. It's about something else."

"Okay! Give me a few minutes to clean up. Do I have screws in my hair?"

Sophie giggled. "Yeah, you do."

"Great. Well, I'll be over in a few minutes, hopefully without random components stuck to me."

He ended the call and Sophie put her Imparter in her pocket, glancing over at Keefe. She sighed when she saw how tense he was and how hard it was for him to breathe. It broke her heart every time she was reminded of the pain that had become his normal, everything he had to endure just to exist.

"I don't know how you ever thought of yourself as weak." she whispered. "You've stronger than I could ever be."

Dex took a bit longer than she was expecting. He was still wiping the grease off his cheek as he walked in, but there were no screws or related items in his hair.

"How's he doing?"

"Not great." Sophie sighed, standing up and giving Dex a hug. "He's really weak though. And it feels like a couple hundred years get shaved off my life expectancy every time he doesn't respond."

"Huh?"

"It's a human expression."

"So what's up? You said it wasn't serious, which is great, but…"

"Keefe had an idea and I want to know what you think about it. If you don't want to talk about it, feel free to tell me to shut up."

Dex raised an eyebrow and frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Sophie bit her lip. "So, I may have mentioned to Keefe you like Biana and he's been coming up with ideas. I totally get if you want to talk about something else, but he had an idea that would work."

To her surprise, Dex nodded. "Keep talking."

"You know those tiny little bouquets? I'm pretty sure they're called corsages, but Keefe has no idea. In the human world, during Victorian times, young men and women used flowers to communicate secretly without getting caught. Different flowers, colours of flowers, and arrangements all meant different things."

He grinned. "I think I know where you're going with this."

"I know Biana likes flowers. I've mentioned the language of flowers thing to her before and she thinks it would be really romantic."

Dex grinned even wider. "Our lockers are pretty close together. I could leave a small something, maybe three or four flowers, just enough to mean something without being clunky to carry around. But I have no idea what type of flowers to do, or what they mean. I want it to be sweet, but not too forward."

Sophie chewed her lip. "Do you have a pad and paper? I can write some down for you that I think you'll like."

He nodded and produced a well-used notebook and pencil from a hidden pocket.

"You chew on your pencils?"

Dex blushed. "It's a bit of a nervous habit when I forget something. My mom does it too."

"I used to do it all the time when I was younger. And then it snapped in half in my mouth and I had to go to the urgent care because there were wood shards and graphite stuck in my tongue and gums and my parents couldn't get them out. I never stuck a pencil in my mouth again. Apparently, that was why my school implemented the rule that you were not allowed to chew on pencils." Sophie scribbled down a few of her favorites.

"Wow. How hard were you biting down?"

"Not very, or so I thought." She tapped the eraser end against her cheek, "The nurse couldn't stop laughing after she got all the stuff out of my mouth. She said she'd never seen anything like it before. I'll see if I can get pictures of these flowers or something like that, so you can pick ones that look good together."

"No, it's okay." Dex smiled when she handed him the list. "What would you recommend?"

Sophie pointed to the top line. "Amaryllis. You can't really go wrong with a flower that means 'splendid beauty' and they're gorgeous flowers by themselves. And possibly tulips, but you did say not too forward."

He nodded. "Those can wait. I was thinking three different ones. But thanks for the advice! I was trying to think of a little something I could leave at her locker when we go back to school and my mind was blanking. She'll love this."

"No problem. I should probably be heading home, I told Mom and Dad I'd be back about lunch to help out."

"Are you getting more new animals?"

"Getting rid of this time! The vermillions that came to us several mouths ago are finally leaving. I'm so tired of those little suckers. I'm glad they'll be gone. But you're right, we probably will obtain a few more imps, Iggy's getting kind of jealous of me taking care of some of the littler ones, I don't know where in the world anyone finds a random T-rex, but we seem to obtain them on a regular basis. We've even had a few moonlarks nest in the cliffs, which is awesome. I think they like swizzlespice even more than the alicorns do. How's life been for you?"

"So, so busy." Dex sighed and ran a hand through his hair, grumbling when a few small gears fell out. "These stupid things. I was looking for them yesterday!"

"How do gears and stuff even get in your hair?"

He blushed, leaning down to pick them up. "Sometimes I stay up too late one too many nights in a row and fall asleep on my projects. My hair can be a real mess and things just disappear into it. I usually spend a good hour before I take a shower combing through my hair to make sure I go everything out and there's still stuff in there most of the time. The triplets are surprisingly accommodating with all the stuff I do. Rex is as much a night owl as I am and we often remind each other to go to bed. He helps me out sometimes, even if that help is shoving me out of bed because we have to go to school and I stayed up until three in the morning the night before."

"You've got good siblings. I rely on Iggy to get me up most days. You have not heard a truly horrible noise until you've heard that little rat when his breakfast is late. Anything later than a minute and a half after when he thinks he should be fed and he won't shut up until I get up and feed him. So I've gotten pretty good at getting up and feeding him on time."

"Wow."

"Ro's on her way up, so we're okay to leave, at least once she gets upstairs. Keefe's a fountain of ideas when he's feeling okay, so if you need more, feel free to ask. And he's getting better at sign language."

"Awesome. Well, see you later. I have to go before Mom figures out I haven't cleaned my room. It gets really messy really fast since I just stuff things in corners, so I'm technically grounded until I actually clean it." Dex sighed, looking back over the list she'd given him.

Sophie shoved his shoulder lightly. "You head home then and don't get in too much trouble. I'm sure you could convince someone to help you out. I know Biana can be a neat freak."

"I wondering if that's actually advice, you just trying to get us together, which I appreciate in a weird way, or both."

"Both, sort of?"

The door opened and Ro stepped in. "Hey guys. If you need to head home, I'm here now. How's he doing?"

Sophie sighed. "He said he found a new low point and is in too much pain to talk even telepathically, so not great. I've been leaving him alone."

She nodded. "Okay. I can be quiet for him, or put on an audiobook or something that doesn't get too loud."

Dex nudged the door open wider for Sophie and both of them started walking to the vortinator.

"Do you think she likes me?"

"Biana?"

"Yeah."

Sophie bit her lip. Biana hadn't asked her to keep it a secret, but she probably should to some extent anyway. "Well, she definitely wouldn't be upset if you gave her something nice or started paying more attention to her. Whether Fitz appreciates someone paying such close attention to his sister and her responding in kind is another story, but I think I can keep him off your back if I have to."

"Thanks. See you Monday?"

"See you Monday. Bye!"

* * *

**From now on, each chapter is going to be a snapshot into their lives at different points. It might jump around a bit, but I need to start wrapping this story up. As always, reviews will get a teaser from the next chapter! (Let me know if you don't want one.****)**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	13. Thirteen: Winnowing Gala

**We're gonna start jumping around a bit now. It's been a while since the last chapter. Sophie is now eighteen and has graduated. Fitz is twenty or twenty-one. **

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Sophie smiled, turning to both sides as she looked at herself in the mirror. In the now three years she and Fitz had been together, she'd never wanted to wear a dress like this one. It hadn't seemed necessary. Now, she wanted to turn heads.

Someone knocked on her door.

"Come in!"

The door opened and footsteps came toward her.

"Hey Dad."

"Hey kiddo." He hugged her gently, setting his chin on the top of her head. "You look good."

Sophie turned around and hugged him back. "Thanks. No comments on the style?"

Grady sighed, stepping back and studying her. "I think you're eighteen and plenty old enough to decide what you want to wear. I'm probably always going to object to certain styles, at least until you're married. Hey, isn't this Edaline's?"

She grinned, looking back at herself in the mirror. "Yes it is. Mom said she couldn't fit into it anymore and if it fit me I could borrow it."

The red strapless dress hugged her torso, scooping in to her waist and flaring out over the hips and down into the A-line skirt that brushed the floor. But the real statement was the colour and the neckline. As Edaline had said, it was rather low and pushed her cleavage upward, leaving a good section of creamy skin exposed. It was somewhere between scarlet and ruby, both deep and bright at the same time.

"If I'm honest, it looks much better on you than it ever did on her. Your mother is a lovely woman, but red is not her colour." Grady smiled, looking at the mirror over her shoulder. "You look beautiful and you are going to turn heads, which I'm assuming is the point."

Sophie nodded.

"No makeup? Nothing fancy?"

"That's not really the point. I didn't feel like it. So I just left my hair down and makeup-free."

Grady sighed"Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

She met her father's eye in the mirror. "If we don't, what else are we going to do? I've lived her for almost as long as I was in the Forbidden Cities and I've learned one thing about elvin culture. If you don't fit in the box created for you, society shuns you as a whole. And I don't. We have to play this carefully. There's a reason Fitz and I asked everyone to keep our relationship a secret until we were ready."

Sophie turned around and hugged her father. He returned the embrace, sighing.

"People don't like me. If we just announce that we're a thing, people will go nuts! Alden and Della are doing their best to keep pressure off Fitz, but they can't do everything. At some point, he'd be forced to cave and break up with me. Neither of us want to do that to each other. So we have do something big. Something no one can ignore. Because if we don't, we won't survive and neither of us want to have to deal with the fallout of being forced to break up. Fitz is doing his best and he's promised me over and over again he won't be pushed into anything he doesn't want to do, but I know that it will happen sometime. They're expectations he's grown up with, he's caved to them before, and they're only going to get worse. This was the best we could come up with and we can't stop it now. The party has probably already started and if I don't show up, we'll be done for. I'm sorry Dad."

Grady gave her a soft smile, brushing a story bit of hair behind her ear. "Don't be sorry. I'm just worried. It could go horribly wrong and the Council can't back you up if it does. Just, be careful. And get out of there as soon as things go south. Okay?"

"Okay." Sophie stepped back, adjusting her dress. "I'll be back whenever the party ends."

"You be safe."

"I will."

She went downstairs, giving Sandor a shaky smile before she stepped outside. Biana was waiting for her, in an uncharacteristically plain tunic and leggings.

"How's it going so far?"

Biana shuddered. "Awful. Fitz hates it. He's never been much of a people person when you're not around, so a giant room stuffed with people he's never met and he's supposed to smile and talk to every single one of them about his single least favorite topic? His worst nightmare."

"I thought siblings weren't allowed."

"The only way he's survived this long is keeping a telepathic connection with me. He gets claustrophobic when he's surrounded by strangers. I hope he survives the five minutes by himself until you get there."

Sophie took her hand loosely as Biana pulled out her pathfinder. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He's better at it than he gives himself credit for."

They leapt outside Everglen and Sophie took a deep breath.

"You remember where the entrance to the reception hall is?"

"Yeah. Keep your parents busy?"

"You got it. Good luck, Sophie."

Sophie pushed her hair behind her ears. "Thanks."

It took her a bit of time to get there in her dress and to work up the courage to open the door. But once she grasped the handle and shoved the ornate doors open, there was no going back.

The room went dead silent. Sophie felt a momentary burst of panic as she stepped into the room. She wasn't supposed to be here and everyone now looking at her knew it. There were probably a hundred people, mostly women, all packed into that room. She understood why Fitz felt claustrophobic and it made her a little queasy just looking. But she steeled herself and took a confident step forward. Then another.

The people parted and Fitz walked out of the crowd. Sophie could see his shoulders sag slightly in relief and he gave her his bright smile, bowing halfway from the waist and extending his hand.

"Miss Foster."

His voice echoed slightly in the silence.

Sophie returned the smile and closed the distance between them, taking his hand. "Mr. Vacker."

He straightened and took her arm, turning to face the crowd. "Thank you for following through. I was beginning to get nervous." he whispered.

"I wouldn't ever leave you hanging like that." she whispered back. "Promise."

Then the murmurs started. People were starting to realize that this was planned and they weren't happy.

Sophie felt Fitz's hand shaking on her arm and covered it with hers, gently rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb.

"You're okay." she muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

Just nervous. He exhaled through his nose, eyes flicking around.

You got this.

People split off back into their conversations, throwing glances and glares over their shoulders and clearly discussing what was going on. Sophie noted that Alden and Della were nowhere to be seen, thankfully. Biana appeared to have upheld her part.

A couple stopped them, with their teenage-ish daughter between them.

"Master Vacker, what is the meaning of this?" the girl's father demanded. Sophie fought the urge to wrinkle her nose. This was probably a typical entitled parent.

Fitz took a steadying breath and spoke with all the confidence he could. "Sophie and I have been dating for the past three years and I intend to marry her, if she will have me."

"But why would you want anyone of such low breeding when there are so many young noble ladies begging for your attention?" The girl's mother decided to give thinly veiled snobbery a try. "Our daughter among them. At least-"

Fitz tightened his grip on Sophie arm and cut the woman off. "I have made my decision and you cannot sway me. I will make Sophie my bride and nothing aside from her death will stop me, assuming she agrees."

Sophie felt a light blush rising on her cheeks. They'd discussed marriage before and she was by no means opposed to the idea, but this was the first time he'd declared it as his intention. Instead of making her heart flutter, it made her heart slow, calm steady beats. He would defend her, no matter what.

The girl's parents tried Sophie next, though mush less amicably.

"You must refuse! If you truly care about him, you won't sully the Vacker line and honour with your filthy blood and unmatchable status!" the mother spouted. Sophie flinched slightly when she felt spittle land on her cheek.

Wiping it away, she stood firm. "The only thing I will refuse is to leave him. If he were to ask for my hand in marriage, I would gladly give it. Don't bother trying to persuade our parents away from this, they already know the situation. If you are looking for a match for your daughter, I suggest you try elsewhere."

Sophie tugged Fitz's arm gently, steering him away.

Others stopped them with the same or similar questions. Each time, one or both of them shot down the protests, stating that they had come to a decision and that decision was final.

By the fourth or fifth stop, she could feel Fitz try to pull away every time someone new confronted them. As much as she tried to sooth him telepathically, all the people pressing in close and yelling in his face were making him jumpy.

Hey, why don't we head out and go see the lake? Does that sound good?

He nodded slightly. Yeah. Let's go do that.

Biana appeared out of nowhere, now wearing an elaborate evening dress, and started running interference, keeping people away from them and letting them get outside.

Fitz dropped her arm and took her hand, squeezing tightly. He didn't say a word until they were sitting on a bench overlooking the lake.

"What do you need?" Sophie kept her tone low and soothing, reaching up and gently rubbing his shoulders.

"Please…stop touching me." His whole body was shaking slightly as he braced his chin in his hands, eyes closed.

She pulled her hands back, a little upset but understanding he meant nothing by it. "Okay. Do you want me to be quiet?"

"No, you're okay. It's just, there's a lot of people in a space not quiet big enough for them so everyone kept bumping up against me and some of the girls were more clingy than others, always grabbing my arm or trying to lean on me. I'm just glad you got here before the dancing starting." Fitz leaned back on the bench, taking a deep breath. "Did you mean what you said?"

Sophie scooted closer and when he gave her a small nod, slid her arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You'll have to be a little more specific. I meant everything I said, but you're probably talking about one thing in particular."

"You said that if I asked you to marry me, you'd say yes. Were you being serious?"

"Fitz, I was completely serious. I know you've already talked to my dad about it and the only objection I would have had is wait until I'm out of school. But, I just graduated this spring, so if you were to ask, I would say yes."

"I was hoping you would say that."

Sophie caught a flutter of movement off to one side and glanced over her shoulder, suddenly tense.

When she turned back, Fitz was down on one knee in front of her, holding a beautiful silver ring set with a pale blue diamond. "Sophie Foster, will you marry me?"

Sophie gasped, eyes abruptly flooding with tears. Her emotions went haywire and she was surprised she didn't lose control of her inflicting.

"_Yes!d_"

She squeezed her eyes shut in a vain attempt to keep herself from crying. His arms wrapped around her, lifting her to her feet and gently supporting her until she managed to stop crying.

"Yes." Sophie dried her eyes and smiled.

Fitz smiled back, tears making his eyes glitter. "I was hoping you'd say that."

He took her left hand gently, sliding the ring onto her finger. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. It's beautiful."

"So are you. I'm surprised your dad let you leave the house in that dress. I would be lying if I said I'd been keeping my eyes to myself the whole time."

She grinned. "It was to make a statement, which it did. You have no idea how many 'eye candy' comments I caught."

"Were people saying that to you?" One hand slid up her back and he pulled her tight against him. "I'm so sorry."

"Really, it's okay."

He sighed, smiled down at her with a look of pure love in his eyes. "I don't know how I got so lucky. You are the most wonderful person I've ever met."

The next thing Sophie knew, he was pressing his lips to hers and it felt like her chest had caught fire. She gasped, not knowing what to do with this feeling.

He pulled back, breathing hard and cheeks bright red. "Wow."

"Wow is right. Hope you do that more."

"Starting to wonder why I ever waited."

"I'm glad you did." She reached up and brushed a tear from the corner of his eye, gently cupping his face. "It made it that much more wonderful."

Sophie wasn't sure why she was so jittery. It was just Keefe. Her best friend. She stepped into the room, left hand clenched tight. "Hey Keefe."

He opened his eyes slowly, looking over at her.

"How are you doing?" She signed as she spoke.

His hands shook when he signed, but no more than normal. 'Better. But it's hard being almost completely deaf and sometimes I can't really see either. It's slow, but I can feel my body giving up.'

"I'm so sorry. Four years seemed like forever to me. It must be even longer for you."

'I just take it one day at a time. Did something important happen? You seem nervous.'

Sophie grinned, holding up her left hand. "Fitz asked me to marry him and I said yes. We're engaged."

It took him a bit to respond and when he did, he pointed to his head. She reached out and formed a telepathic connection.

_No way! You and Fitz are getting married! That's awesome!_

"I'm sensing a little bit of upset."

_I can be happy for you and still be upset it's not me. There was definitely a point in time where I was hoping that I could be the one to sweep you off your feet, but that was a long time ago. I'm genuinely happy for you guys. You deserve it, after everything you've been through. When's the wedding?_

"Not for a bit. I've only just graduated, so maybe a year or two. The only people happy for us are our friends and family. We threw the world into shock and they're fighting back. We're waiting for things to calm down a little bit first."

_Okay. Can you put _Avatar_ in before you leave? Ro's on her day off._

"Yeah sure. I'm so sorry I can't stay longer. We're all meeting at Everglen for Fitz and I to announce our engagement."

_You're okay. Go have fun. You deserve it. By the way, is Dexy gonna make a move anytime soon? Once he and Biana got that little push, they've been closer that you guys._

"He has plans to propose, but only once they're a little older. He's been working nonstop trying to figure out the perfect ring. At the rate he's going, the time he feels ready to propose will be about the time he gets done with that."

Keefe made the sign for 'laughter'. _Cool. I don't mean to pry, but are you and Fitz planning on kids?_

"You're fine. We haven't had that conversation yet, but I would be fine with it. I don't want to push him, but if we do have kids, I want you to be able to meet them before…" Sophie sighed. "Before anything happens."

_You don't have to sugarcoat it. I know I'm dying. Slowly, but still dying. Elwin's said it, I can feel it. This nerve condition I have is slowly killing me. It's weird, knowing I have a time limit. I'm so used to thinking about having thousands of years of life ahead of me, and now I don't know if I'll survive next week. Heck, I could close my eyes right now and I don't know if I would open them again._

"It's a weird thought isn't it. Sadly, I've got to go. I'll stick the disc in first though. You said _Avatar: The Last Airbender_?"

_Right_.

She put the disc in the DVD player and pushed it in. "See you later."

_Bye. Good luck with stuff._

"You too. Don't die before I get back."

_Can't promise anything._

* * *

**Sokeefe shippers, I'm pretty sure this story is marked as Sophitz. This was going to show up sooner or later. But, next chapter, my sweet babies are getting married! Eeeee!**

**As I've said in every other chapter, review for teaser, let me know if you don't want one. Be the first to review for an extended teaser!**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	14. Weddings Pt 1

**To the person who asked when Keefe is getting a new ability: He's...not. Lady Gisela was working with forces she didn't understand and gave him a nerve disorder that will eventually kill him. I mentioned in an earlier chapter that the section of his brain that controls abilities is gone. As in, the neurons that are activated when he uses his ability have been destroyed. Sorry to disappoint.**

* * *

Sophie winced when her door slammed open and excited squeals met her ears. She turned around, rubbing her temple.

"Something exciting happen, Biana?"

"Yes!" She was having trouble staying still, bouncing in place with a smile so big her face was in danger of splitting in half.

Sophie gestured to her bed and they sat down. "What happened?"

Biana all but shoved her left hand in Sophie's face. "He proposed! We're getting married!"

Sophie winced, reflexively covering her ears against the squeals of glee. "That's awesome. When are you guys planning on?"

"Several months from now. We know what we want, even though we've only been engaged for like a week. But we've had the wedding conversation before. Sorry about the telling you guys on your wedding. We didn't want to steal you thunder, but then it was getting awful close and you guys were gonna notice, so we thought we'd better just say it. I already told everyone else downstairs."

"You're fine, really. I totally get it. And you're okay with the whole match thing?"

Biana sighed, scooting back and pulling her knees up to her chest. "Well, yeah. I kind of have to be. Dex ultimately didn't register, but when I asked, the lady told me if he had registered, we would have been pretty high on each other's lists. But he didn't, and I did, so…But at least you and Fitz got most of the hecklers out of the way. I'm okay with it. He's scared though. He wants to protect me and knows that kind of scorn could be disastrous."

Sophie rubbed her shoulder. "You'll be okay. Besides, not many people know you guys weren't matched. So who has to know? You could totally just not mention it."

"We could do that, but I don't think Dex would be comfortable with it. But if you guys make a bigger scene, which you seem to be doing without doing anything, we'll be fine."

Sophie laughed. "Somehow, everyone's holding out hope we won't go through with the wedding, that something will happen and he'll break up with me. Well, the rest of the bridal party is on their way upstairs, I'm assuming, and nothing's happened yet."

Biana sighed, still smiling. "Do you remember, back in your first year of Foxfire, when we had that Splotching match?"

"The one where I threw Fitz into the wall and knocked us both out?"

"Yeah that one."

"You hated me."

She laughed. "I did. I'm glad I got over it though. I would have missed out on a pretty awesome sister-in-law."

"Keefe mentioned he had been hoping he could've been the one to, in his words, 'sweep me off my feet'. There were plenty of times where I would not have objected and I still would have no problem with it if I weren't already engaged. But can you imagine being related to Lady Gisela?"

"Oh, that'd be awful!" Biana giggled. "Lord Cassius too! I cannot imagine worse in-laws."

"Well, maybe Vespera. But I don't think she had any kids."

Someone knocked on her door and Sophie called, "Come in!"

Edaline opened her door and stepped in. "Everyone's here, kiddo."

"You can't really call me that anymore. I am getting married today." Sophie stood up and hugged her mother.

Della and Linh came in behind Edaline. Linh squealed and joined their hug, squeezing Sophie's ribs with surprising strength for her petite frame. "I can't believe it's actually happening!"

"Linh, I love you to bits, but I still have to breathe."

"Sorry."

Edaline and Linh let go of her and were replaced by Della and Biana. Della sighed, wiping tears from her eyes. "There are so many things I want to say, but I just can't find the words."

Biana leaned her head on Sophie's shoulder. "Mom, remember when Dad said he was going to look for Sophie and you tried to convince him not to?"

"I'm glad I wasn't able to. I would have missed out on some of the most wonderful moments of my life. Although, was the stunt you pulled at the Gala totally necessary?"

Sophie nodded. "Yes. Very necessary."

Someone else knocked at the door and Sophie disentangled herself before answering it.

She was assaulted by a flying tackle-hug and a face of brown curls.

"Amy!?"

"Hi!" Her little sister squeezed her tightly, burying her face in Sophie shoulder. "I was afraid I was late. Guess I got the time right!"

"What are you doing here?"

Amy let go of Sophie and stuck her hands on her hips. "What kind of sister would I be if I didn't show up to my big sister's wedding?"

"Keefe had something to do with this, didn't he?"

"…Maybe. But still."

Sophie and hugged her sister again. "I'm glad you're here."

Amy stepped around her and waved. "Hey everyone."

"Hello Amy." Edaline stepped forward and gave her and gentle hug. "It's good to see you."

Amy grinned. "It's good to see you guys too. So what can I help with? I know I'm not a bridesmaid, but I can do whatever you guys need me to."

Sophie shrugged, flopping onto her bed. "I don't know. People barely tell me anything, except for the stuff that's my decision alone. I know it's to help keep me from being stressed, but I'm still antsy."

Biana grabbed Sophie by the arm and pulled her up. "Well, first order of business is to get you ready to go. Come on, you have to get up."

She groaned, letting them make her get up and into a chair in front of a large mirror and vanity.

Biana retrieved an eyeshadow palette with more colours than anyone could ever use in their lifetime. "Hey Amy, how good are you at doing hair?"

"Well, I'm going to cosmetology school, so I hope I'm decent at it. As long as you don't want a boat or something in your hair, I can probably do it."

"Great. Can you do my hair while I do Sophie's makeup? Nothing too fancy, just a simple updo."

Amy snorted. "Simple by whose standards, yours or mine?"

"Like, ten minutes or so."

"Okay. I can do that."

Biana opened a case of about a million different brushes. "Close your eyes."

Sophie sighed and obeyed. She could feel Della and Edaline doing her hair up into something she hoped wasn't too difficult to undo that evening.

"Not too many bobby pins, please. I'd rather not spend an hour pulling them all out and then have one stab in the head while I'm trying to sleep."

"I don't know if you'd have time, dear." Della's voice was dripping with implications.

Sophie groaned.

Amy laughed. "She does make a fair point though. But do elves even use bobby pins, bane of the devil they are?"

Biana stabbed Sophie in the eye with the mascara brush on accident. "Sorry! No, we don't really. Most people have pretty manageable hair and those unfortunate people like me use special elixirs and something that's basically glue for hair. It does wash out though, it's not permanent."

"Good. I like my hair down."

"So does Fitz." Biana giggled, switching to a smaller brush. "Edaline, if you're not doing anything, can you grab the circlet? I can't remember the jewel colour."

"They're just diamonds, unless Sophie changed it?"

Sophie resisted the urge to shake her head. "No I didn't. Diamonds and silver."

"Thanks. Soph, did you ever decide what lip colour you wanted?"

"Um, it should be sitting out on my bathroom counter. It was the pink one in the set you got me for my birthday."

"Ooh, that's a pretty one!"

"I'll grab it." Amy offered and her footsteps walked off toward the bathroom.

Edaline sighed. "Sophie, you look amazing already and we're not even finished yet."

"I fully trust Biana to do a wonderful job with my makeup. What are you guys doing with my hair?"

Biana stepped back from her face and gasped. "Oh my gosh, it looks amazing!"

Amy came back from the bathroom, presumably with the lipstick. "Oh yeah, that's all kinds of awesome. I don't know how you accomplished that without bobby pins. It looks great."

Sophie sighed. "Biana are you done yet? I want my sight back!" The statement would have been accompanied by a dramatic gesture, but she wasn't sure how much moving she was allowed to do without disturbing either Biana or Della.

"Sophie, where did you hide your dress? I can't find it in your closet." Edaline's voice was muffled by the intervening space.

"It's not in my closet, Mom. It's folded up nicely in its box at the foot of my bed and even labeled."

"Of course it is." She walked back out and Sophie heard the box open. "Amy could you help me get this out?"

Fabric rustled and Biana stabbed her in the eye again. "Sorry." Cold metal met her forehead as Della set the circlet on her head and pinned it down. Amy gasped. "Oh, my gosh. This dress is gorgeous. Like it should be illegal for something to be this pretty. Anybody wanna bet Fitz is gonna cry?"

Biana laughed. "He already has. Dad got us up early to take care of some last-minute things that came up and I guess it really hit him that he was getting married to Sophie Foster. He spent like an hour sobbing. It was dorky and sweet at the same time. I can't promise I didn't laugh a little bit."

"Still. You cried about it yet, Sophie?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Not really. I sobbed like a baby when he proposed. But I haven't really cried about the wedding."

"I know that's a lie." Edaline said. "Last week you came downstairs crying because you couldn't believe you were actually getting married."

"Hey! I was watching a sappy mmmfph!" Biana abruptly started on her lipstick, cutting her off.

"Sappy movie or not, you still cried." Amy said.

Sophie grumbled, waiting for Biana to be done before speaking. "Can I look now?"

"Not quite. Give me a sec. Amy, can you start on Mom's hair?"

"Way ahead of you." Amy's words were muffled by something she held in her mouth. "Simple updo again? Different than what I did for you or not?"

"Something a little bit fancier, but not by much."

Sophie forced herself not to jump when a light soft brush met her skin.

"Okay. I think I'm done. You can open your eyes now." Biana closed the palette with a click.

She opened her eyes and her mouth dropped open. "Oh, wow…" The diamond and silver circlet sat in the exact centre of her face with a few blonde waves slipping down around her cheeks. Her eyes were pale white and silver shimmers, with black or dark brown liner winged out on the corner of her eyes, making the gold sparkles in her eyes glow. Della had pinned her veil under the circlet and the white fabric flowed down over her hair. "What did you do with my hair?"

"Part of it I braided up and it's holding the circlet in place. The rest of it is curled and hanging down your back."

Despite herself, Sophie began to tear up, and it wasn't from the multiple times Biana had stabbed her in the eye with a brush. "This is actually happening. I'm actually getting married."

"Yes you are." Edaline leaned down and hugged her from behind, being careful not to disturb her hair. "I promised myself I wasn't going to cry this time around. I'm just glad you both made it to the wedding."

"Yup." Sophie squeezed her hands. "I'm not going anywhere, Mom."

"Where'd Linh go?"

"I'm still here!" She smiled, stepping into Sophie's field of vision. "I've been doing makeup while Amy does hair. I'll go grab the other dresses real quick."

"Alright, let's get you into this beautiful dress!" Amy grabbed her hands and pulled Sophie up, albeit with some level of care.

Sophie smiled when she saw her wedding dress laid out on her bed. She'd chosen a beautiful white ballgown with lace off-the-shoulder cap sleeves and a modest neckline. There were pearls and diamond and other white and pastel jewels scattered among the tulle of the skirt.

"When we picked this out was when it really started to feel real." Sophie pulled off the dress she was wearing and lifted her arms above her head, feeling the cool fabric slide over her skin. "I remember when I was little, I wanted to look like Cinderella. I think this fits."

Edaline sniffled, wiping a few tears away. "You look beautiful. You really do."

Sophie straightened her back as someone, probably Biana, did it up and turned to look at herself in the mirror.

And promptly began to cry. Boy was she glad elvin makeup was tearproof.

Linh set her boxes down and hugged Sophie. "Oh my goodness you look amazing!"

Vertina blinked into the corner of the mirror to see what all the fuss was about. "Now that's not something you see every day. Wow. I'd ask what the occasion is, but I'm pretty sure I know."

"Yup. I'm getting married. I'm actually getting married."

"Hm. I think I like this dress better than the one Jolie picked out. I always thought it was too plain."

Amy let Sophie play games on her phone while everyone else hurried to get into their dresses and shoes.

"Hey, Sophie, where are your shoes?"

She shot up, almost dropping Amy's phone. "Oh no!"

"You forgot them, didn't you?"

Edaline groaned. "I knew we'd forgotten something."

Linh ducked into Sophie's closet. "I'll see if I can find something in here."

"How did we forget your shoes?" Biana sighed, balling her fists since she couldn't rub her face. "You can't exactly go barefoot."

"Well why not?" Amy said, pinning the final piece of hair into place on Edaline's updo. "I think it would look good."

Sophie shook her head. "I have to wear something on my feet because our wedding is outside and the place we picked has a bunch of stuff on the ground. I don't want to hurt myself walking down the aisle."

"Yeah, that'd be kind of embarrassing."

"Ugh!" Linh groaned, closing Sophie's closet door behind her. "I couldn't find anything that would work!"

"Hey Mom, didn't you say the other day we have the exact same shoe size?"

Edaline gasped. "We are. I'll be right back." She left, footsteps thudding on the stairs.

The Imparter on Sophie's nightstand rang and she sighed, picking it up and answering. "Hey Dex. Did something go wrong?"

"Nope, we're all fine, just checking in and making sure everything's okay. We're moving a little slow, since Fitz tears up virtually every time he looks in the mirror, Grady's a complete mess, Alden's a mess, and Tam's just staying out of it and keeping an eye on the rings. I'm the only one who's managing to keep it together."

"We're all good here. I'm struggling not to cry, but that's pretty normal." She deliberately didn't mention the shoes situation.

Dex covered the screen and yelled, "Don't worry Fitz, Sophie's have just as hard a time keeping it together as you are." He uncovered it and grinned. "See you soon."

"You too." Sophie ended the hail as Edaline came back in with a pair of ivory heels.

She smiled tearily, handing them to Sophie. "I didn't think I still had them, but turns out they were just sitting in the back of my closet waiting." Edaline sniffled. "These were shoes I wore on my wedding day. My mom wore them, my grandmother wore them. They've been through a few generations; they're a bit of a family heirloom. If they fit you, you are welcome to wear them."

Sophie smiled, setting them on the floor and slipping her feet in. "Wow. They're in surprisingly good condition for being that old. And they fit perfectly." She teared up again, letting her feet settle into the old shoes.

"Jolie was upset she couldn't wear them. Her feet were just too small. So she had an exact match in her shoes size made."

"Well, that's the shoe problem solved. Is there anything else missing?" Amy glanced around. "Jewelry?"

Della shook her head. "We decided against it. Sophie was stressed and didn't really want to deal with it."

"Okay! We're ready to go then?"

"Well what about you Amy?" Biana said. "If you're coming, jeans are a little informal."

Amy sighed. "I'm not sure. What would people say about a human showing up?"

Sophie laughed. "Whatever they want. I really don't care anymore. My entire engagement and up to now, people have been going above and beyond to hit me with their worst. And I still don't care. If you don't want to come, you don't have to. But if you do come, I don't want you to hide in the back. Is that okay?"

Her sister smiled. "That's fine, it's just, what am I going to wear? I showed up on awful short notice and we've only got a few hours until the wedding."

Biana shrugged and walked over to her, slipping one foot out of its shoe to check their heights. "I think we're about the same size. The guys are over at Everglen, so I can have my dad or someone find something for you. Or there might be something in Sophie closet."

"Thanks guys, but it's really okay. If I did go, there is no way I would be able to resist videotaping it all. Or maybe I could skip the ceremony and go to the reception instead."

"I think that would be fine." Della joined Biana in rifling through Sophie's dresses. "Here, this one will probably work."

Amy sighed, taking the dress Della handed her. "Wow, this looks like something out of the French aristocracy. I'm guessing this is run-of-the-mill for elves?"

Sophie smiled. "That's actually on the fancy side. But it should suit you well. Or if you don't like it, you can find another one. But we do have to get going to make sure everything is going okay. If you need help, hail Juline. She should be free until the ceremony starts."

"Okay. Good luck!" Amy hugged her tightly, careful not to disturb anything.

Sophie decided to take her shoes off since the two-inch narrow heels were difficult to balance in. She walked down the stairs, and stepped outside, putting her shoes back on before she stepped outside.

The late spring weather was perfect. It was sunny, but not too hot, and Silveny had reported that there were no storm clouds for miles.

"So far, everything is going as planned." Edaline looped her arm through Sophie's and smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, nervous, and excited and really happy." She smiled down at the silver ring on her finger. "It's actually happening."

"Oh no." Biana whispered, frantically feeling her pockets. "Uh, Mom, you've got the pathfinder right?"

Della frowned. "I thought you did."

"Guys, relax, it's right here." Linh held it up. "You gave it to me because you were sure you guys would find a way to lose it."

Sophie sighed in relief, linking hands as Linh lifted the pathfinder to the light. It pulled them away to the same meadow Fitz had shown her, with graceful weeping willow lining the rainbow grass. Chairs had been set up, but the arch of flowers that was supposed to be at the end of the aisle was missing.

"Wow, this looks great. Where am I supposed to be, and what happened to the arch?"

Della showed them a small pavilion off to one side set a little into the trees. "You wait here. I'll work on coordinating everything and find out what happened."

Sophie sighed, finally getting the chance to sit down and work her feet out of the shoes. The ceremony had been exhausting. She hadn't realized just how much opposition to the wedding had been deflected away from her. She still wasn't sure what had actually happened, since everyone told her not to worry, it was taken care of and she should focus on something else.

"Hey beautiful." The door opened and Fitz stepped inside. Sophie smiled, not finding the will to stand up but reaching up for him anyway.

He reached down and hugged her tightly. She buried her nose in the crook of his neck, breathing in the slightly sharp scent of the cologne he was wearing. The cold metal pressed against her skin as he gently cradled the back of her neck. "Are you okay?"

"I'm doing better now." She looked up at him. "How is stuff out there?"

Fitz sat down next to her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Terrible. But that might just be my peopled-out self. Honestly, I wish Keefe were here. He'd do a great job of cheering us up and he's very much a people person. Honestly, this giving us a few minutes to ourselves idea was great. I don't think I wouldn't been able to handle going straight from the mess outside to the reception."

"I have faith in your ability to handle people. But really, what's going on out there?"

"Everything that people could've done to try and sabotage the wedding, they did. I'm so glad our families have our backs. Without that, there would have been no way we would have been able to get married today. The florist Mom had bailed on us at the last possible second, but I'm pretty sure Oralie and Bronte pulled some strings and took care of that. A lot of Vackers more prominent than we are tried to get things cancelled, or change orders, anything they could. And plenty of people went along with it. Even Fallon of all people apparently showed up and he and Dad got into a huge fight. He didn't actually leave until someone, I think it was Grady's dad, Mesmerized him into leaving."

"Sound like a real hot mess." Sophie reached up and trailed her fingers down the side of his face. He sighed, leaning into her touch.

"You've got lipstick on you."

"I do?"

"Yeah. Here, let me get it." She sat up and kissed him on the lips, sighing softly when he pulled her close against him. When she pulled back, both of them were smiling.

"I don't think that helped."

"Probably not. But it was fun." Despite herself, Sophie began to giggle. The giggle turned to quiet laughter and Fitz started laughing too. Both of them started laughing hard, Sophie nearly toppling off the couch, and it took a while for them to calm down, only to start laughing again.

"We actually did it." Sophie took his left hand and held it up next to hers. "We actually got married."

"Yeah we did." He sighed, leaning his head on hers. "All those people who told me we'd never make it, that you were only after my prestige, and tried to fill my head with all sorts of junk and failed."

"Who was telling you that?" Sophie pulled back enough to turn and face him.

Fitz smiled. "That's not important."

"Fitz."

"Some family members I've only met once or twice. Some of them my parents had never met. And they showed up out of the blue to criticize my choice. My dad got pretty tired of them fast and told all of them to get lost. Do you want to change out of some of this? I know you have a pair of flats you wanted for the reception instead of heels."

She nodded. "I understand the sentiment behind these shoes, they've been passed down in Mom's family for several generations, but they're kind of uncomfortable, partly cause they're so old."

"Okay. They're over here." He handed her a pair of white flats with sapphires on the toes. "They're really pretty."

"Thanks. Also, a nice feature of this dress," Sophie slipped her sore feet into the shoes and stood up, unfastening the slip knot holding the puffy part of the skirt to the dress. "The majority of the skirt is detachable."

Fitz's mouth dropped open as she stepped out of the pile of tulle, leaving her in a flowy, A-line skirt that had a short, wispy train. "That is convenient."

"Yup. Now I don't have to drag all this behind me. You ready to head down?"

"If you are." He stood up, taking her hands gently. "But you should know that a lot of my relatives my parents were forced to invite to the reception are strongly opposed to our marriage and they're not afraid to make their opinions known. Just letting you know."

Sophie nodded. "I'm not worried. Mom and Dad introduced me to their parents about a year ago, right after we got engaged. It took a while and Mom almost cut contact with her parents since they were upset about our relationship, but they came around. Dad's parents are awesome though. They always have been."

He pulled her close, tucking his face against her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him, tracing patterns on his back. "Do you want to talk about something else?"

"Yeah." He sniffled.

"How's the Cliffside project going?"

Fitz pulled back and looked her in the eye, smiling through a few tears. "It's a surprise. But I think you'll like it. It's very much your style."

"Plain?" she joked, playful smile quirking at her lips.

"No, not plain. I think Amy called it 'shabby chic'."

"Ooh." Sophie grinned. "I bet it's gorgeous. Is it finished?"

"Mmhm. It's right on the edge of a cliff, with a stone fence on the edge. The outside is blue with white trim, but it's not a perfect blue. It varies from spot to spot."

"That sounds amazing. But we're probably out of time. Should we go down and face the hoard?"

"I don't think we have much of a choice." He took her arm and opened the door. To their pleasant surprise, the hallway outside was deserted.

"Everyone must be downstairs." Sophie was tense, which made her nearly trip on the narrow hidden staircase down to the reception hall. Fitz caught her and waiting a little longer than necessary before setting her on her feet again.

They could hear the commotion before they got to the ground floor. Sophie heard a lot of raised voices, mostly adult, yelling at one another. She squeezed Fitz's arm and he reached up to place his hand over hers.

"You got this. You can do this."

He took a deep breath. "I got this."

They pushed open the door together and stepped into the room. Almost immediately, some girl wearing the Vacker crest latched onto Fitz's free side, speaking in annoying air-headed tone, complete with stupid run-on sentences.

"Cousin, it's so nice to see you! This is such a nice party, oh have you picked up your match list yet, I have a friend, oh she's so pretty, and very much your type, she picked up her list and she said you we on it, but I don't really believe her, she is a little loopy if you know what I mean and-"

Fitz cut her off before she could prattle on further. "I won't be picking up my lists, because I am happily married. This nice party is the reception for my wedding." He placed unmistakable emphasis on the word. "Who are you anyway?"

The girl promptly dropped his arm, now seeing the gold band on his finger and the delicate ring on Sophie's when she held her hand up. "I thought it was a practical joke."

Sophie grinned and shook her head. "You'll have to tell your friend to look at the other 499 names on her lists. This one's mine."

The girl huffed and flounced off.

"Who's she?"

"I have no idea. I assume she's some distant cousin pretending to be all buddy-buddy. I've never seen her before."

Another young woman, this one with a little more dignity and a crest Sophie didn't recognize, dipped in a slight curtsy and gave Fitz a flirty smile. Either she had no peripheral vision or she was ignoring Sophie. Sophie bet it was the latter.

"How wonderful to meet you, Mr. Vacker." The strange woman purred and extended her hand slightly, probably expecting Fitz to kiss it. He did nothing of the sort, taking a half step back away from her.

"Have we met before?" Fitz was trying to be cordial this time, but his patience was already thin.

She kept her smile up, blinking rapidly. "Well, I wouldn't really expect you to remember little old me. I am a few social circles below you after all. But that does not mean I am lacking."

Sophie had to stop herself from growling. They hadn't even been married for a full hour and already some random woman was trying to pull them apart.

"I'm sure you are not. But if you'll excuse me, I believe my mother-in-law is trying to get my attention."

He promptly pulled Sophie in Edaline's direction. She kept up with him, thankful she'd decided to change into flats for the reception.

"Sophie!"

"Hey Mom." She dropped Fitz's arm for a few seconds to hug her mother. Unfortunately, that was all it took for another random girl to seize the false opportunity to assert herself.

Sophie sighed, taking Fitz's free hand in an effort to keep him calm.

_Are your relatives always this bad?_

_Not usually. They're worse because of the wedding._

A few people screamed and loud footsteps thudded across the floor. The girl scurried away to the safety of other people and Sophie slid her hand over Fitz's back. She felt her face go white and she stumbled, despite the face she wasn't moving, when Ro parted the crowd, breathing hard and looking terrified.

"I've got 99 problems and right now, Keefe's survival is like 98 of them. We need to hurry."

* * *

Sophie sat shaking on the couch, staring at a single spot on the floor. Fitz had his arms around her, squeezing her hands tightly in his. Elwin had shooed them out after five minutes and it had been several more since then. All she'd heard was 'neurological abnormality', which could me a whole host of things and none of them were good. Unless Keefe was getting his ability back.

Fitz leaned his head on her shoulder and she felt a wet patch form. Registering that he was crying, she let go of his hands and hugged him tightly, pulling herself onto his lap. He responded immediately, holding her close and crying quietly into her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

Instead of answering, he opened his mind to hers and letting her feel the crashing, biting waves of emotion he'd been stuffing down for days. The worry, the fear, the anxiety, the shame.

_I've been afraid to tell you. You've had just as much to deal with as I have._

_I know I have. She gave him a watery smile. But I still want to know. Somehow, burdens always feel less heavy when you let other people help you carry them._

He smiled. T_hank you. For a lot of things. Especially sticking by me._

_You're my husband now. It's kind of required. She grinned, pecking him on the lips. My makeup probably looks horrible with all the eyelash-tugging I've been doing._

_Actually you look great. But part of that is a personal bias. No woman has ever or will ever look as beautiful to me as you do._

Sophie leaned her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. It was beating faster than normal, out of fear, but she still found the sound soothing. Fitz exhaled slowly, leaning his head on hers. Their thoughts slowed, meandering together until they were both intrinsically aware of each other's minds and emotions.

_Keefe's going to be fine. Fitz gently lifted her chin so she was looking him in the eye. Even with this problem. He won't let this get him down._

_I'm guessing you don't know._

_Know what?_

_That this thing is killing him. He said he can feel his body giving out under him and every time Elwin looks him over, he says the damage is multiplying beyond what's fixable. He doesn't have much time left. She sniffled and Fitz gently wiped her tears away._

_I knew. Dex hailed me a while ago, all worked up. It took me a while to calm him down enough to find out what was wrong. He spent several minutes straight just talking and that's when I found out._

_Has Dex told you his other news?_

_Fitz smiled. That he proposed to my sister and she said yes?_

_Yeah._

_Remember when they hated each other? Like, they were paired up for a Splotching match and one of them got a bruised rib. Both of them got disqualified. One because of the injury, the other for causing it. The Mentors made sure they never got paired up again._

_And then I showed up._ Sophie traced patterns over his neck and shoulders, gently rubbing the tension away. _And things went sideways._

_And it became the best years of my life. Sure, I almost died a couple times, but I did end up marrying the love of my life. And that's really all that matters._

There was a knock on the door and it opened. "Am I interrupting anything?" Elwin asked, without enough amusement to be embarrassing.

"No, not really." Sophie sat up and looked over at him. "Did you figure out what's wrong?"

"Yes, and it's not good."

Sophie slid off Fitz's lap and both of them stood. Elwin led them up to Keefe's room.

Keefe looked a fine as he could be, if a little paler than normal. He appeared to be sleeping, but when Sophie reached out to his mind, he responded, if sluggishly.

_Hey._

_Ugh._

_How are you feeling?_

_Well, one minute I was listening to Halt's Peril, that's the ninth Ranger's Apprentice book, and the next minute I lost awareness of everything around me, except it hurt a lot more than normal._

Elwin sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I know enough about human medicine to create a treatment plan, but this is another first for an elf."

Sophie paled, leaning heavily into Fitz. "Please don't say what I think you're about to say."

"I'm almost certain this is epilepsy."

"A-are you sure? Doesn't epilepsy need at least two seizures without an outside cause to be diagnosed?"

"We've got a lot more than two." He sighed, taking off his glasses and sighing. "Ro said she'd been noticing several small episodes over the last several days. She assumed they were part of his condition and didn't realize something was wrong until today, when he stopped responding and started convulsing."

Sophie turned around and buried her face in Fitz's shoulder. They clung to each other and she took a few steadying breaths.

"Is there anything you can do?" Fitz asked, voice choked.

Elwin wiped his eyes. "I can try, but there's only so much. This isn't something I know very much about. But I do know that whatever life expectancy he had has been drastically shortened. I've done what I can for him right now, but that isn't much. I'm going to go see if I have anything in my stockpile at Foxfire." He left quickly, taking his things with him.

Sophie slumped in the chair and began to cry, burying her head in her hands. Fitz sat down next to her, pulling her into his arms.

"He's gonna be okay." Fitz whispered softly.

She didn't answer, continuing to cry into his shoulder.

"Can he talk telepathically?"

"He responded, but barely."

Fitz slid his hand up into her hair, gently pulling her head back far enough so she was looking him in the eye. "Would it make you feel better to talk to him and update him on everything that's going on or would you rather go straight home, pack and head out to Hawaii?"

Oh yeah. They were spending a few weeks in Hawaii for their honeymoon. Honeymoon. Just the word made her stomach flutter. "I'd like to make sure he's okay first."

Both of them reached out and formed a mental connection between the three of them.

_Okay, so what's this about Hawaii?_

_I thought you couldn't hear._ Sophie was slightly miffed, but too upset to be mad.

_I've learned to read lips._

Fitz grinned. _Our wedding was today._

_OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS CONGRATULATIONS!_ Sophie was pretty sure Keefe was testing how loud he could yell telepathically and it was probably louder than Silveny. _THAT'S AWESOME! But I'm sensing not everything went great._

Sophie smiled. _We had a little more than our share of opposition. My grandparents are amazing though._

_Your grandparents?_ Keefe asked, confused.

_Yeah, Grady's parents specifically. They're amazing. His dad's a Mesmer and his mom's a Charger. Both of them have very sharp wits and when one of the Councillors, one I didn't know, tried to make a rude comment, my grandma shut her up pretty quickly. I didn't hear what was said, but oh it was funny to watch most of the Council turn red and a few of them flounced off. Oralie thought it was hilarious._

_I wish I could've seen it. Wait, are you still wearing your wedding dress?_

Sophie glanced down and shrugged. _Yes, but I removed the detachable floofy part of the skirt for the reception._

_You left in the middle of your own wedding to make sure I was okay?_ Keefe sounded like he didn't believe her.

_The reception. The ceremony was already over, but of course we did._ Sophie leaned her head on Fitz's chest and let him continue.

_You're our friend. We can always have another party or even another wedding if we have to. But you don't have an infinite time like we do anymore. So unless something changes in the near future, your health and safety come first._

Keefe would have smirked if he'd been able to. _So, what would need to happen for me to not be first priority?_

Sophie knew he was joking, but answered anyway._ If you wake up one and are somehow no longer in pain, then priorities will change because you'll be able to do things for yourself. I can tell you wanted to make a 'Since when am I not Foster's first priority' joke and I should probably tell you you can't call me Foster anymore._

_Aaaand why not?_

She grinned. _Because I decided to change my last name to Vacker. So that every time people talk to me and call me 'Miss Foster', I can remind them that I'm a Vacker now._

_Ooh, the Mysterious Miss F is a touch vindictive. Can I still call you that? Mysterious Mrs. V just don't work as well._

Fitz smiled, lifting her head to kiss her gently on the lips. _That's fine._

_So, how bad is Elwin's verdict?_ Keefe's tone changed drastically and Sophie grabbed Fitz's hands to stop herself from reaching out and squeezing Keefe's arm in reassurance.

_It's…not great._ She sniffled, burying her face in the crook of Fitz's neck and shoulder. _He doesn't know for sure, but his best diagnosis was epilepsy._

_I have no idea what that is, but I'm guessing it's not so great._

Sophie bit her lip, searching her memories for all the information she had, mostly from a singular conversation she'd had with a girl at her school who'd had it. _I know it's a neurological disorder that causes seizures. And that they can be fatal. I really don't know much. But it does make your situation much worse._

_Okay. You guys should get back to your wedding stuff or just go straight to your honeymoon. Personally, I'd ditch all your stupid relatives. Just pop in a movie for me before you go? Ro went to go calm herself down. She was seriously freaking out._

Sophie frowned, looking at Fitz and then to Keefe's clouded eyes. _Only when someone else comes here to keep an eye on you. If you have another seizure without someone here to make sure it's not severe and to get you medical treatment if it is, you could die. Like, you could have a serious seizure right now and if Elwin didn't get here fast enough, you could die. You can have seizures in your sleep and if Ro doesn't realize it soon enough, you could die. This isn't your body slowly giving out under you anymore. Right now, until Elwin comes up with something to control the epilepsy, you could just pass away any second. Just like that, and there wouldn't be anything we could do._

Keefe sighed, or at least Sophie thought he did. His breathing was so shallow to be as painless as possible that any change was almost imperceptible._ I understand that. But I've come to terms with the fact that I'm dying and I've done everything I wanted to do that I can still do. I mean, it does still hurt that my dad disowned me, and who knows what happened to my mom. But I've got the family that matters right here. It's really okay. I know you guys would seriously miss me, but I don't mind anymore. I appreciate being alive, don't get me wrong, but I'm not scared of of dying anymore. If anything, it means the pain will stop._

Fitz bit his lip and a few tears straggled down his face. Sophie leaned up and gently kissed them away, smiling. _I'll go find someone to keep an eye on you. Which movie do you want?_

_How about _Infinity War_?__ That one always makes Ro sob like a baby, but don't tell her I said that._

Sophie sighed. _Okay. I'll find it._ It didn't take her long to locate the DVD, since Ro had put it in a clear box marked Box of Shame. She rolled her eyes and took the case out. Fitz came back upstairs with a gnome and Sophie slid the disc into the DVD player.

Keefe smiled as best he could. _Thanks guys. Now you go have fun and let me know when I'm going to become the coolest uncle in the world._

Fitz laughed. _Don't mean to rub salt in the wound, but you can't exactly be the cool uncle when you can get out of bed. I think Dex is going to take that title._

Sophie just blushed at the implications.

**If you got a teaser, you will notice that it's not here. This is because I had to split this chapter into two. Sorry.**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	15. Author's Note (not a chapter, sorry)

**This is not a chapter update, sorry. I'm doing this because people seem to be unaware of what's going on with me in April and I got some questions from a guest reviewer.**

**I'm doing Camp NaNaWriMo in April. This means I won't be updating or publishing anything during that month. Sorry people.**

**To reviewer Fan Person:**

**Sorry, I can't reply directly to guest reviews or I would've sent you something. Yes, I will be dealing with the Neverseen later. They are being dealt with during the timeline of the story, by adults with experience. Iltaurielle in paricular. I'll cover that in two or so chapters.**

**Keefe's death will be covered in a future chapter. I will probably make myself cry writing it.**

**Daawwww, thank you! While I ship Sophitz, I try to acknowledge that Sophie and Keefe could've happened. (If he and Fitz didn't appear to share a brain, that is...) There's a looot of platonic Sokeefe in the works for me to publish. **

**Thanks to everyone for being patient with me!**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	16. Weddings, Pt 2

**Man. This chapter was way more effort to get out than it's honestly worth. First I was up until past midnight finishing the stupid thing. Then I feel asleep in the middle of the day and almost forgot to publish it, then my computer wouldn't accept my password and it took a huge hassle and calling my dad to get that sorted out. But it's here now and I'm back to my normal publishing schedule!**

* * *

She groaned as the sun stabbed under her eyelids.

"Sophie you have to get up."

"I don't wanna."

Fitz slid his hands under her shoulder blades and lifted her into a sitting position. "I know you don't wanna. But both of us have stuff to do, even if you have a nasty hangover. Sorry sweetheart."

"Ugh. How are you not hungover?"

He handed her an elixir. "I took one of these last night and this morning. Best way to kill it before it starts."

"I guess." She downed it in one go. "That's about the most pleasant elixir I've ever had. Tastes kind of like kiwis."

"The bird?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "No, the fruit." She frowned when she noticed Fitz had frozen in place and gone white as a sheet.

"What's wrong?"

Hand shaking, he pointed to her stomach. She looked down. Her belly button had turned bright pink and popped out.

"Uh, okay. I think I drank too much. No big deal."

Fitz shook his head. "Sophie, do you remember my mom mentioning what happens when elves get pregnant?"

"Yeah, their belly buttons turn pink and…" Her voice trailed off and she stared at her stomach, finishing the sentence in disbelief, "…pop out." She looked up at him. "You don't think?"

"There's no other reason it'd do that."

"I still want to have a physician check. Elwin still works at Foxfire, doesn't he?" Sophie threw back the covers, suddenly very much awake. "I'll hail someone and cancel my meeting. This is way more important than whatever the Council want to talk to me about."

"I'll go ahead and cancel all our stuff for the day. Unless you want to tell your parents at dinner tonight?"

She sighed, hunting around the room for her clothes. "I understand elves don't miscarry, but I still want to wait until I hit twelve weeks assuming I am…pregnant." The word felt weird in her mouth. "Just cause I'm scared and because that gives us time to get past Biana and Dex's wedding so we can tell everyone with stealing their thunder."

Fitz nodded, gently hugging her and kissing her cheek. "You had a meeting with the Council, right?

"Yeah, right before one with your dad, partly to make sure everyone's on the same page and partly just to visit."

"Okay. I'll have to go find my Imparter."

"You can borrow mine if you need it." Sophie finished getting dressed and dug her Imparter out of her desk drawer. "Show me Elwin."

Elwin's sleepy face filled the screen and he groaned. "It's awful early for you to be hailing me with a problem. Unless you need more hangover cures."

"No, we're good on that front. You're free today, right?"

"For the most part."

"Great. Can we stop by?"

"Um, sure. How important is it?"

"Potentially life-changing."

Elwin sighed. "Okay. Come by this afternoon. I need time to wake up."

"Not a morning person?"

"Not in any sense of the term."

Sophie ended the hail, slipping the Imparter into her pocket and sitting down at her vanity/desk. Biana had been shocked when she saw the absolute lack of makeup in Sophie's things. She had two eyeshadow palettes, the set of lipsticks that had been a birthday present, and a few other random items that had been gifts.

She ran a brush through her hair and tied it back, too jumpy to do anything else.

Sophie found herself unable to sit still for the three hours until she was sure it was okay for her to show up. She could hear Fitz arguing with someone, almost certainly Councillor Emery. The Council absolutely hated it whenever Sophie cancelled a meeting, even when they had several days' notice.

"I don't know how you deal with those guys." Fitz tossed his Imparter onto the couch and hugged her. "They just don't listen."

"Tell me about it." She hugged him back, burying her face in his shoulder. "You should've heard the racket when we told them all of us were quitting Team Valiant. There was a lot of yelling. Stina didn't bother staying for that. She slapped down her notice of resignation and walked out."

"I know why you resigned, but why did everyone else?"

"Stina's got her own small herd of unicorns she breeds and cares for. She decided to make that her full-time job. Wylie's moved to Atlantis for a new job, he didn't mention what it was. Biana and Dex are technically just on vacation, so they can focus on their wedding and then honeymoon, but they keep extending it and not showing up to meetings, so I think they're going to quit soon. Dex has been doing more and more in Slurps and Burps and he's been adding a few technological things to their stock. He and Rex are probably going to take over the store eventually. Not sure what Kesler and Juline will do with all the free time, but illegal excursions to the Lost Cities to experience human things had been tossed around, since most of the Black Swan have more free time than they know what to do with."

"Okay." He kissed her gently. "Let's head out."

Sophie could tell something wasn't right as soon as Elwin came out of his office. His clothes had zero animals of any kind on them. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

"So, what's the life-changing thing you needed to see me about first thing in the morning?"

She took a deep breath. "I think I'm pregnant."

He stopped. "You're serious."

"Yeah. But we want to be sure." Sophie took Fitz's hand and he squeezed hers gently

Elwin whistled. "Wow. Okay. Not an everyday occurrence. But yeah, I can check." He flashed a blue orb around her stomach and Sophie tensed. "Yup. That's actually a really healthy pregnancy considering how much alcohol was in your system recently."

"Wow." she breathed, pressing her hands over her stomach.

Fitz raised an eyebrow at Elwin. "So what's with the fancy clothes?"

Elwin blushed lightly. "I should've known you'd notice. I'm going out with someone later today."

Sophie grinned. "Awesome! We won't keep you then. Good luck."

He grinned. "Thanks."

* * *

Sophie sighed, wishing not for the first or last time that Amy was there. Even with Vertina's instructions, she couldn't manage to pull her hair up into the messy-on-purpose bun she wanted. And the last thing she wanted to do right now was bother Biana.

After another failed attempt left her having to spend ten minutes brushing her hair out again, she gave up and yelled, "Fitz, I need your help!"

"Just a moment, dear!"

She shrugged and picked up her hairbrush again, picking apart the tangled mess for the fifth time, not counting all the tries she'd given it the night before.

"Hey, love. I'd ask what the problem is, but it seems to be hair." Fitz's reflection appeared in the mirror as he stepped behind her, sliding his hands around her waist.

"Yeah. I can't get it to stay where I want it and I don't want to bug Biana. She's stressed enough."

"Hmm." He frowned at the image her saw in her head, running his fingers through her hair. "You're right, that is a bit of a tricky one. I'll see what I can do."

His fingers gently massaged her scalp for a few seconds longer, than slid down the length of her hair and twisted it up. "It's easier if you can see what you're doing." It only took him a few seconds longer to finish the style. "Now we just have to make it stay up when I let go."

Sophie handed him a small tin. "Biana gave that to me right before we left on our honeymoon. She said it would keep my hair up no matter what. The accompanying grin told me more than I needed to know."

Fitz laughed. "It'll do the job, but I don't know about 'no matter what'. I've seen it fail plenty of times." But it stayed up this time, with a few strands hanging out to frame her face. "You look beautiful."

She turned around, sliding her hands over his shoulders. "And you look handsome as ever. We even match." Her husband had chosen a navy blue tunic with silver embroidery decorating the edges and black pants. Her dress was a similar shade of blue, but with gold braiding along the waist and neckline.

"Are you doing jewellery and makeup there?"

"Yup. Linh, Della and Juline are going to keep Biana from freaking out and I'm headed straight there to make sure everything is going to go smoothly. After I get my makeup and jewellery though. How are your parents doing?"

"Mom's a little stressed out with doing two weddings within a year and a half of each other. Dad's okay-ish, but he's been getting a lot of flak from other Emissaries over our wedding, even though it was a year ago. No one knows for a fact that Dex didn't register, but there are plenty of rumours. All of us have been getting it, Biana most of all."

Sophie sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder when he pulled her close. "Well, all those people don't know what a wonderful family this 'bad match' made. We were always sort of family, but now it's official."

"And it'll be even more official after today." Fitz gently kissed her and she sighed, sinking into the feel of his lips on hers.

They pulled back reluctantly and Sophie smiled. "I'll see you later, sweetie. Keep Dex alive."

"You got it."

She pecked his lips one more time and they walked outside, hand in hand.

Even when she was young enough to dream about her happily ever after, none of the dream homes she'd designed in her head would have felt as much like home as the one Fitz had helped the gnomes build. Most of the interior was done in a seashore colour scheme. Pale blue with white trim and creamy brown carpet. It wasn't big or fancy or carved out of crystal. But it had everything they needed and felt homey in a way massive mansions couldn't. They had two bedrooms set aside for children and a guest room. That was all they needed.

Sophie pulled out a specially made crystal and Fitz pulled out his personal pathfinder. "Hopefully Biana won't offer you any alcohol."

Sophie sighed. "Hopefully. She'll know something's up as soon as I refuse, since she knows I love a good wine."

"Let's hope we can hold out until the reception at least." He gave her a goodbye kiss and they leapt away to their respective locations.

They'd learned from Sophie's wedding to check that everything was in place before the bridal party arrived. Hopefully this time, people wouldn't be stupid.

She was wrong.

As soon as she landed, three elves, all with the same crest, yelped and scrambled away from what they were doing, hoping they could pretend they hadn't just been pulling apart one of the bouquets Flori had spent hours putting together.

Sophie usually would have a modicum of patience to hear whatever halfhearted excuse they had for their actions. For some reason, that tiny bit of wiggle room these unfortunate people would have had was gone.

She gave them the, as Dex had dubbed it, Fos-Boss-Death-Stare-Of-Doom. The three strange elves shrank back from her, looking very interested in their shoes.

"Care to explain why you are so meticulously taking apart the flower arrangement that took thirty gnomes a month and a half to put together?" That was a bit of an exaggeration, but they didn't need to know that.

They didn't answer.

"That's what I thought. Why are you even here? I have no idea who you are, so I'm almost certain you weren't invited. I know Biana wouldn't invite anyone this toxic to her wedding."

They leapt away without a word. Sophie groaned, walking over to the sad-looking flowers to see if they were salvageable.

Biana had chosen a beautiful mix of hydrangeas, chrysanthemums, lilacs, and birds-of-paradise. Most of the flowers had been pulled off their stems or crushed and the ribbon holding them together had been ripped. Hopefully, there was a way to replace or hide it before everyone else got there. Not wanting to hail anyone and risk causing unneeded stress, she reached out toward Havenfield and felt for Flori's mind. She had contacted her gnomish friend before, but each time was a little risky.

_Sophie, is that you?_

_Yes. We have a slight problem. Do you have extra flowers?_

Flori's tone changed. _What happened? Is one of the bouquets damaged?_

_Yes, deliberately. I'm glad I came to check on things beforehand. By the time everyone was ready and we got here, all of the flowers would probably have been destroyed._

_Are any of the flowers reusable? I don't know if I have enough for another whole bouquet._

_A few of the birds-of-paradise and hydrangeas and a single lilac. I don't think anything else is salvageable. Are you able to fix it before Biana gets here?_

The gnome sighed. _It depends on how bad the damage is. I can certainly have it done before the wedding begins. But I will do my best to repair it before you arrive._

_Thank you._

Flori popped out of a tunnel with an armful of flowers bigger than she was. "I assume you are there, Mrs. Foster?"

"Yeah I'm here. Can you keep an eye out for anyone else trying to sabotage the wedding until we get here?"

The gnome smiled, setting her flowers down and gently picking up the damaged ones. "Of course."

Sophie returned the smile and leapt away to Everglen.

Linh looked relieved when she arrived. "We were wondering where you were. What took you so long?"

"We had a bit of trouble with the bouquets. Flori's taking care of it." Sophie sighed.

"You're fine really." They walked up the stairs, Linh having some trouble with the edge of her dress. "Biana was in Italy few weeks ago just for fun and she brought back this heavenly sparkling rosé. You have got to try it."

Oh well, so much for no alcohol. "That sounds amazing."

Biana was already mostly ready to go, probably so she could spend some time relaxing. Her dress was sleeveless with a sweetheart neckline, showing the thin white scars peppering her skin. The skirt was blush tulle piled into a giant poof. "Sophie!"

Sophie grinned, hugging her sister-in-law tightly. "Hey Biana! How are things going?"

"I spilled on my dress."

"You what?" Sophie pulled back and stared at her in shock. "You spilled on your dress?"

Biana shrugged. "It's not going to end up being a big deal. The wine is a rosé and it spilled on the part that happens to be blush instead of pure white. It was almost a disaster though."

Juline waved from the vanity, finishing her lipstick before she spoke. "Hey Sophie. Were you wanting the gold eyeshadow or just the browns?"

"I think I'll use a little gold. Not much though." Sophie picked a chair, glancing at the glasses full of pale pink wine. "Where's Della?"

"Here!" Della's voice was muffled by the closet door. "I'll be out in a minute. Make sure Biana's not drinking more than one glass total."

Biana flopped in the chair next to Sophie's, rolling her eyes and taking a sip from her glass. "Honestly, I'm fine. This wine is fairly weak alcohol wise. I'll grab you a glass."

"Uh, actually, I'm good."

Biana stopped and stared at her. "I don't think I heard right. You never turn down any rosé, even the horrible ones."

Sophie grinned weakly. "I'm not feeling that well and I'll be drinking at the reception, so I'd rather not now."

"Well, if you're sure." Biana stopped pushing and drained the rest of her wine. "More for me I guess."

"No, not more for you. You've had enough." Della stepped out of the closet, retrieving the full glass next to Biana. "I won't have you drunk at your own wedding."

"But Mom!"

"No." Della crossed her arms.

Biana sighed and wrinkled her nose. "Fine. I won't drink any more until the reception."

That was enough for Della and she set the glass down again. "You look wonderful, Sophie. That colour is beautiful on you."

"Thanks, Della. You look good too."

The other Mrs. Vacker was wearing a beautiful gold dress draped and pleated in a style that reminded Sophie of ancient Greece. The skirt wasn't very full, but it was still pretty. Her hair was up in a simple style.

"Thank you dear. I was worried it wasn't fitting right."

"No, you look great." Sophie sighed. "How long did it take to do your hair? Mine took forever."

"Actually, I didn't bother. I just had Alden do it before we left instead of battling with it myself. I don't really do my own hair that much. Alden usually does it for me and he's a lot faster than me."

Biana grinned. "Dad's amazing at hair, probably because he's been doing Mom's almost since they got married. But sometimes when I'm in a rush for school and forgot, he'll do it for me while I eat breakfast. It always looks great."

Someone pounded on the door and yelled, "Relaxation time's up! Time to start really getting ready!"

Biana groaned. "I guess." She stood, setting down her glass. "Whoa, I'm a little wobbly. I don't think I should be in heels right now."

Della sighed. "I told you not to drink now. But I have flats you can wear."

Sophie rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. "Juline, are you done?"

"Almost. Is there anything I can get out for you while I finish?"

"Umm, I don't know. Whatever lipstick you think would look good on me. I don't want to do anything super fancy."

"Okay." Juline stood and Sophie took her place, finishing her makeup quickly.

Biana was more than a little wobbly and it took some effort and an alcohol-sapping elixir to get her into her dress. Della gave up trying to get her into the heels they'd picked out and went with the backup flats instead.

As soon as she was ready, Sophie, with a headache developing in the back of her head, left to check on the venue again and make sure everything was going smoothly.

Flori was the only one in sight when she got there. The destroyed bouquet was nearly finished and looked only a little different from the others. Sophie doubted anyone would notice something went wrong.

"Hello, Mrs. Foster." the gnome greeted, flashing a big smile. "Is everyone else with you?"

"No. Biana's a little tipsy, so it's taking a bit to get her ready, and I was getting a headache."

"Ah. I hope we don't have a drunk bride. That could be disastrous."

"I think we're good. Della won't let her come if she's drunk. But I'm really not feeling great."

Flori frowned. "Are you feeling well enough? You have time to go lie down if you need to."

Sophie sighed. "I think I'm okay. Just a little nauseated, that's all."

"I don't think that's all." The gnome narrowed her eyes, studying Sophie. "You wouldn't happen to be pregnant, would you?"

Sophie stiffened. "Well…we're not really telling people yet. But yeah, I am."

A huge smile split Flori's face in half and she tackle-hugged Sophie tightly. "Oh, that's so exciting!"

Sophie hugged her back. "It really is. We can't wait to tell everyone. But not until after the wedding and a little bit of time has passed. How could you tell?"

"It's a little bit of a glow around you. Your whole body seems a little brighter."

"Huh. I'm pretty sure both Bo and Ro could smell it on me. It was Bo's turn last week and he was acting weird. Ro's been strangely jumpy and excited every time I visit."

"You had better take care of yourself. No one wants you getting sick in the middle of the wedding."

"Don't worry, Flori. I'll be fine."

But Sophie did take her gnomish friend's advice and sat down in the shade until Fitz, Dex and the rest of their party leapt into the clearing.

"Everything okay?" Alden called.

"Yup. All clear." She stood up and walked over to them.

Dex was understandably shaky, wringing his hands and pacing back and forth.

"Hey beautiful." Fitz hugged her gently and pecked her lips. "Everything okay on your side?"

"Eh, mostly. Biana's a little tipsy, but she'll probably be sober by the time things start happening."

Dex groaned. "I knew something was going to go wrong!"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Did you not hear me? She'll be perfectly sober by the time she gets here and besides, a little alcohol is good for nerves. Everything's going to turn out fine."

He sighed. "Okay."

Fitz slid his arms around her waist from behind. "He's been on pins and needles all day. Although, I probably wasn't much better."

"Dude, you were _worse_."

"No I wasn't."

Alden laughed. "Both of you are about equal. But Fitz was more anxious leading up to the wedding than he was the day of."

"See? Told you."

Sophie raised her eyebrow at him. "Hon, this isn't a contest. At least one no one wins."

"If you insist."

She gently kissed her husband's cheek and smiled. "See you at the reception, my dear. I'm gonna go do my job as maid of honour and keep Biana in line." Sophie winked at Dex. "She looks gorgeous."

He smiled.

Sophie walked over to the temporary pavilion set up for the bridal party, where Biana was rapidly fanning herself and pacing back and forth.

"You okay?"

"Hot. I didn't think about the temperature. I should have had my wedding in the spring like you did. I was wearing a heavy dress, but I wasn't hot at all."

"Ah. That's what hoops are for."

"But hoops don't _swish_."

Sophie laughed. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I guess. I'm nervous though. I suppose there's no chance I could get a drink right now?"

"Nope, not a chance. Don't worry. It's really not bad. Once you start, your brain keeps you going. You got this."

"But what if I forget my vows?"

"Then the officiant will prompt you or I can. I've got them down as well as you do, remember? From all the times I helped you practice? But really, you won't. I know you're nervous, but I promise, you have nothing to be worried about. Just take a deep breath." Sophie reached over and took Biana's hand. "You've got this."

She sighed. "But there are so many things I can't control that could go wrong! Did I forget anything? Oh, my shoes! We left my shoes at the-"

"Biana. Calm down. We switched your shoes out, remember? You're okay."

"Oh right. Is the cake taken care of? Oh no, I knew I forgot something! I didn't-"

"I took care of it. Seriously. Biana. Take a deep breath. Everything's going to be perfect and magical and the best day of your life. I promise. If it helps, something already did go wrong and we took care of it. See? Look, everyone's starting to get here and Fitz is trying his best to keep Dex from having an anxiety attack. And besides, you're not marrying a stranger. You're marrying your best friend for the rest of your life. It's amazing."

Biana took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay."

"If anything goes wrong, we will take care of it. You've done almost everything you need to do. All you've got left is to walk down that aisle and get married. And then you can go get drunk and have fun and after that you have your honeymoon, which is going to be an experience you remember for the rest of your life."

"But what if-"

"Na ah ah." Sophie pressed one finger over Biana's lips. "No more what if's. It's going to be amazing. Nothing will go wrong and when you guys get back, we'll have some wonderful news for you. Just relax and enjoy it. This is your day."

"Well, mine and Dex's. But you're still right."

Fitz gently pressed against her mind. Five minutes, time to take our places.

Coming, love.

"Okay. I need to head out. Alden's gonna come get you and then you'll be getting married. I don't want to jinx it, but nothing is going to go wrong."

"Thanks. See you in about five minutes and talk to you at the reception."

Sophie hugged her gently and walked over to where the other bridesmaids and groomsmen were waiting.

Fitz gently pecked her lips. _She okay?_

_Nervous, like I was. It took a little to reassure her that nothing's going to go wrong._

_Dex is terrified that someone's going to find out that they weren't matched and crash the wedding. We made sure he understands how unlikely that is to happen._

She glanced at Dex, who looked less nervous, but still just as anxious as Biana. _And if someone does, we'll take care of that._

Sophie followed her cues, squeezing Fitz's hand lightly before the parted to stand in their places as maid of honour and best man.

Dex looked throughly terrified. She gave him a reassuring smile as the music changed.

Almost instantly, all his fear dropped away, replaced by a radiant smile and misty eyes. Sophie glanced down the aisle and saw Biana just starting to walk, hand trembling her father's arm, but not afraid anymore. She'd chosen to go with a less traditional veil that didn't cover her face, instead cascading in thin, beaded layers down the back of her dress.

Dex did his best to surreptitiously wipe his eyes.

If she was honest with herself, there was no way the ceremony could have gone better. Biana didn't forget her vows and no one crashed the wedding. Both bride and groom cried a little. When the ringbearer, a young cousin of Dex's, went to hand the officiant the rings, he tripped and almost fell, faceplanting into Biana's dress instead. Lex, Dex's third groomsman, had to be elbowed several times over the course of the ceremony so he'd stop making faces over his brother's shoulder and making Biana crack up in the middle of her vows.

It was about as picture perfect, fairy-tale worthy as weddings get.

All of them crashed in a sitting room at Havenfield to relax and in Biana's case, change, before the reception.

Sophie groaned as she worked her feet out of her shoes and flexed her toes. "Ugh, someone remind me to never commit to standing in heels for so long again."

"Hey, it wasn't that long!" Biana said. "It was perfect."

"Told you."

"Why are you changing for the reception?" Dex asked, tearing his hands through his hair and messing it up. "You look great."

"I know I do. But I wanted something a little lighter and better for dancing in. And not quite so white, so if I spill on it, it's not such a big deal. Why are you messing up your hair?"

"I don't like it plastered to my head. It's heavy and a little hot. I don't know how Keefe could stand it." He sighed, flopping onto the nearest sofa. "How'd you manage to not vanish the whole way down the aisle?"

Biana smiled, sitting next to him and leaning her head on his shoulder. "I didn't feel the need to. I was just so happy. All my nerves just, went away."

"Huh. I'm still terrified."

Everyone laughed. Fitz clapped his brother-in-law on the shoulder. "Don't worry, man. It's not as scary as it seems. Just have fun. Get a little drunk."

"Not too drunk." Biana clarified. "I'd prefer to wake up to a sober husband, thanks."

Sophie laughed again. "You sound like me already. You have no idea how much I say that to Fitz."

"Hey!" Fitz stuck his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest and said in the most pretentious, stupid voice possible, "I'll have you know we Vackers are exceptionally good at holding our liquor."

"Yeah. That's totally why your mom warned me a mouth beforehand to make sure you didn't drink too much because all y'all are lightweights and handsy flirts when you're drunk."

"Are not!"

"Oh yes you are."

All of them laughed again.

Biana kissed Dex's cheek and stood. "I'll go get changed. Love you."

"Love you too."

Sophie grinned at Dex's reaction when Biana walked back in. She'd chosen a rather dramatic dress for the reception. Deep, plunging neckline sloping up to almost off her shoulders with sheer wispy sleeve and a fitted bodice. The skirt was loose and allowed mobility, but it was still full enough to be a ballgown. But the main statement was the colour. She'd chosen a deep, blood red with black accents that made her look striking and dramatic.

"Oh _wow_."

"I thought you'd like it. You guys can head up if you want. We'll be there in a minute. Or five."

Sophie took Fitz's arm as he gently helped her stand. "Don't get too caught up. If you don't show up in ten minutes, we'll come looking."

They left the room and started up the stairs. After Sophie had moved out, Havenfield had undergone a massive renovation. Her old room had been converted back into the reception hall and now that they had the space, Grady and Edaline had started throwing their massive annual parties again, which made their social status skyrocket almost up to and then past their former level. Jolie's old room had been converted into a sitting room/conservatory mix, with a lot of plants that made it feel very airy and light.

Grady's office had been cleaned and rearranged to accommodate both desks and Edaline's office had been completely cleared out and converted into a guest bedroom. Sophie had rolled her eyes and sighed when her parents mentioned putting a child's bed in it 'just in case', but now she smiled as she passed the closed door.

The reception was in full swing. Edaline had acclimated quickly to being a hostess and social butterfly again and despite not being the focus of the event, she still looked gorgeous in the purple sleeveless number she'd picked out with Sophie just over five years ago now. But all attention was off her the moment Dex and Biana stepped into the room and every conversation stopped in a soft rush.

Someone, whose name Sophie could not remember to save her life, called out, "Everyone please welcome our bride and groom, Dex and Biana Dizznee!"

Everyone clapped and cheered, though there were a few confused murmurs over Biana choosing to take Dex's last name and not vice versa.

Both of them made a point of enjoying themselves. There was laughter aplenty, even when Dex accidentally cut Biana's finger somehow as they were cutting the cake.

After about two hours of the party, Sophie found herself getting a little noxious and tired, partly from the long day and partly from dodging attempts to give her wine and questions as to why she wasn't drinking.

She found Fitz in the corner, having an animated conversation with Kesler, and could tell he was running low on steam too. Walking up and taking his arm, she whispered, telepathically to not interrupt his conversation. Y_ou ready to go?_

_Yeah. Let's say our goodbyes and head home. I don't feel like drinking tonight and there's no way I'll be able to handle any more of the party without alcohol. Running out of people energy._

_Okay._

Fitz set his hand over Sophie's and sighed. "I think we'll start heading home."

Kesler smiled. "Okay. Not staying to see them off?"

"We really would, but we're both getting tired and I'm not feeling my best." Sophie leaned her head on Fitz's shoulder. "So we should probably say our goodbyes and go home."

"I get it. See you guys later."

They found Dex and Biana in the middle of a thick press of people and did their best to say goodbye quietly.

Cliffside was remarkably quiet after the bustle and conversation. But the waves on the cliffs was soothing and Sophie took a deep breath of the salty sea air and sighed.

"That was a beautiful wedding." she said as they walked inside and headed for their bedroom.

"Yeah, it really was." Fitz gently helped her undo the back of her dress. "I had a great time. You?"

"Other than going round and round in circles with Biana about how everything will be fine, it was fun. Although, that poor kid, what was his name?"

"Estion."

"Yeah, Estion. It must have been so embarrassing to fall over in front of so many people, especially at a wedding. But he looked okay."

"He was upset for a little bit, but like most kids, he was fine after a slice of mallowmelt."

Sophie turned in his arms, sliding her hands over her husband's shoulders. "Most people are fine after a slice of mallowmelt."

"You know what I mean. Anyway," Fitz sighed, looking down at her stomach. "how do you want to tell people?"

"Well, I've had some creative ideas stored up."

* * *

**Dex and Biana are married! Woo! Okay, this chapter took way too long, but guess what? We only have two more chapters after this. The story's almost over. It's been a roller coaster.**

**As always, reviewers get teasers for the next chapter. (Let me know if you don't want one.)**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	17. Baby Moonlark

**The things I do for my readers. You have no idea how long it took to write this chapter. I just finished it. But it's here and done. You will noticed I changed a few details from the teaser.**

* * *

Sophie sighed, tugging at the front of her dress in an effort to get it to lie smooth. But as soon as she let go of it, it popped up again. Eventually she just stopped trying, turning to the side and putting her hands on her hips. Well, she was officially showing now. Her bump was barely noticeable, but anyone who looked for more than a a few seconds would notice that the fabric over her stomach was not lying flat like it should and when she pulled it taut over her skin, it became pretty obvious.

"Sophie, are you okay up there?"

"Yeah. I'm coming." she answered. She picked up her small woven purse and joined Fitz downstairs.

"Hey beautiful."

"Hey handsome."

He hugged her gently, leaning in for a kiss, then stopped and looked down.

"Yup. Guess it's a good thing we decided to start telling people. I'm officially showing now."

"Looks like it's gonna start getting harder to kiss you."

"Not that much harder." She pressed a kiss to his lips and smiled.

He sighed, gently rubbing her back and eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. "You're so beautiful."

Sophie leaned into his hands. "Who do you want to tell first? We're seeing almost everyone today, so maybe just work our way down the list?"

"That sounds good. Whose turn is it to host the family dinner this week? Your parents or mine?"

They'd instituted a family dinner night every Saturday night for everyone to catch up and say hi to make sure they kept seeing each other after they graduated school and the tradition had been solidified after Sophie and Fitz's wedding. It rotated between households, them, Grady and Edaline, Alden and Della, Kelser and Juline, and Dex and Biana.

"Pretty sure it's at Everglen. We could tell people there tomorrow, but there are some people I want to tell beforehand. But if they straight up ask," -she pointed to her insistent little bump- "I'll tell them the truth."

"Okay. We're telling Keefe together, right?"

"If he's up for it."

"Hey." Fitz gently wiped the straggling tears away. "You know there's nothing we can do."

Sophie hugged him tightly, crying into his shoulder. "I know. But it still kills me every time I see him. I hate the fact that he's in so much pain."

He sighed. "We can look into it again. But we're not going to find anything."

"No, it's fine. My emotions have been way off-kilter lately and I end up crying every time I think about his situation. I mean, it's always been sad, but I never used to burst into tears every time it crossed my mind. I think the pregnancy is starting to mess with my head."

"Okay." Fitz took her hand and they walked outside. "Where do you want to go first?"

Sophie bit her lip. "I have lunch with Oralie in Atlantis, she updates me on stuff she can't officially tell me, so we could go look for baby stuff until then."

"That sounds good to me." Their conversation paused as he leapt them to the entrance to Atlantis. "What do you think it'll be, boy or girl?"

"I don't know." Sophie rubbed her bump. "I always wanted a boy, because I didn't have a brother growing up, but I'd be happy whatever we get. And we can have another if you want."

"Do you want more than one?" Fitz asked, tossing the bottled whirlwind into the ocean.

She shrugged. "I'm not opposed to the idea. I don't really want to have a lot or just one, but two or three would be nice. If I got pregnant on accident, I wouldn't mind."

Fitz jumped into the whirlwind and Sophie counted to five before she followed.

"Were you going to tell Oralie today? About Baby Moonlark?"

Sophie looked at him. "Baby Moonlark?"

"Well, I don't know what else to call it, her, them, the baby!"

She laughed. "It's okay. It works. I wasn't planning on it, but if she asks, I can't really lie. Even though people are pretty accepting of me, life's going to be tough for our kids, especially if they have my eyes. Being the children of a 'bad match" -she put the words in air quotes- "possibly having brown eyes, and just being my kids. So I'm reluctant to tell the Council or in any way share it with the public. If they need to know, I'll tell them. But right now, they don't need to know."

"Okay. There are a few relatives on my dad's side I'm close-ish with that I may tell. Is that okay with you?"

Sophie sighed, bunching up her skirt as she got into the euyriptedid carriage and told the driver their destination. "Have I met them?"

"Some. All of them are really nice people and I could probably introduce you."

"If I haven't met them, I don't feel comfortable telling them. Okay?"

"Okay."

Sophie had only been to the particular section of shops in Atlantis once, helping Dex pick out a gift for his baby cousin a few years back. There were eight or ten stores in total, all specialising in a different type of children's apparel and supplies. They went the the first one on their right.

"It's kind of weird." Fitz commented as they entered.

"What is?"

"I've been here a lot of times, with my parents to shop for Biana when she was born, picking gifts for extended family, but somehow I never thought I'd be here looking for my own child."

"Why not?" Sophie took his hand, swinging it gently between them.

He smiled. "I don't know. Guess I never thought that far ahead. Do you want to pick out gender specific things or not?"

"If we find something cute, like a little dress or something, we can get it. But I want to keep it to things we can use regardless. Although since money's not an issue, we could get full sets of both and store whatever we don't use for the next one. I'd rather not though. You?"

"Hmm?"

"What's your opinion?"

Fitz slid his arm around her waist. "I'm good with what you want to do, honestly. But like you said, if we find something cute, I'd like to get it."

"Like this?" Sophie ran her finger down the skirt of a dress. It looked like a mini-version of some of the dresses she had at home, a poofy skirt, little puffed sleeves, and embroidery instead of beads. "This one's actually really cute."

"Too big." He pointed to the sizing. "This is for older babies. If I remember right, newborn stuff is over here." Fitz led her to a section of the cutest little outfits Sophie had ever seen.

"Oh my gosh, these are freaking adorable!"

He grinned. "Aren't they? What do colours do you want to go with?"

"Well, we've still got to decide on a nursery colour scheme. Something that compliments that? Although I have no ideas for what to do. I don't really like bright pink dresses for babies, I never have, but this one's cute." She gestured to a pink dress, this one with a little less poof, that had a white sheer layer over the pink, making it look lighter and more delicate.

"It is. Blue and green maybe?"

"Maybe. A variety would be a good idea, since we don't know if baby will have blue or brown eyes, although brown's a safe bet."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because brown's the dominant allele, at least in humans it is." Sophie fingered the lace on another dress. "I'm only seeing dresses. Shouldn't there be more?"

"Yeah, it's over here. What's a dominant allele?"

"For a culture so focused on genetics, you have no idea how they work, do you?"

"Not a clue. Do you like this?" Fitz showed her a tunic and pants set.

Sophie grinned. "Aww! You've got something almost identical at home. Oh you could match! That'd be so cute!"

He laughed. "Maybe."

"Alleles are the little bits of DNA that are responsible for different traits being expressed. Dominant traits only need one copy of the allele to be expressed and recessive traits need two. I know that in humans, brown eyes are dominant and blue are recessive. So someone with brown eyes can have either two brown alleles or one brown and one blue. Someone with blue eyes, like you, can only have the two blue alleles, because it's recessive. Without knowing whether I have one or two brown alleles, we don't know for sure."

"Huh. Green maybe?" He gestured to a near-identical set. "What happens if you have two brown alleles?"

"Maybe. I don't really like light greens. But dark greens are pretty." Sophie shrugged. "All our kids will have brown eyes, because no matter which allele they get from me, it'll be brown. The one they get from you has to be blue. But of course, none of that applies if the traits are different for elves. What time is it?"

"I have no idea. We could probably talk to Keefe about a colour scheme. He's good at that stuff and probably has some ideas stored up."

"Okay. I'm getting hungry, so maybe start moving toward food and do some window shopping on the way?"

"That's good with me." Fitz pecked her forehead.

They walked out of the store arm in arm. Sophie sighed in contentment, leaning her head on her husband's shoulder.

Lunch with Oralie went better than she'd thought it would. No unnecessary questions had been asked and without the rest of the Council hanging onto their every word, they were about to have a truly friendly conversation.

They'd taken the afternoon shift with Keefe partly because they hadn't had the chance to see him lately and to tell him their happy news.

Sophie was surprised to realize her view of Candleshade had changed when they leapt on the property. It had been shifting over the past years, six of them now. Before, the few times she'd been to the giant skyscraper had put her on edge and made her grit her teeth. Now she smiled, thinking of the wonderful team of people who had ended up moving in so they'd be on hand if something went wrong. Keefe could not be in better hands.

The vortinator had been replaced with a much nicer elevator, after one too many people had thrown up while on it and it had splattered over multiple floors. Sophie was grateful. During the first few weeks and months of her pregnancy, her stomach had been unusually sensitive.

Somehow, she'd never noticed before that while everyone else had grown, Keefe still looked exactly the same as he had when this problem had started, sixteen, even though he was really twenty-two.

Sophie had gotten taller and curvier as she aged, as had all of her female friends. Her hair was longer and darker, now hanging to her waist. Fitz hadn't really gotten taller, but some of his muscles had lost a little of their definition without constant maintenance. His hair had lightened and the gold highlights were now more prominent. His eyes were also losing a little bit of their blue, with more green and silver appearing in his irises. Both of them had small lines forming around their eyes and mouth from the amount of smiling they'd been doing and it was starting to stick. Fitz had callouses on his thumb, index and middle fingers from filling out all the forms and paperwork for his work for the Council. Sophie had them all over her hands from helping her parents with animals.

Keefe looked exactly the same, just skinnier since his body couldn't afford to keep up the muscles. The only change that made him look older were the marks of pain creased into his face and etched into his eyes. But his hands were steady as he signed. 'Hey guys. Wasn't expecting to see you for while. Not that I'm upset, I've missed you, but I understand you guys have jobs and lives outside of me.'

Sophie sat down on the couch that had been made a permanent addition next to Keefe's bed, signing her words as she spoke. "We've missed you too. How are you holding up?"

'Okay. I could be better, but I've been worse. It's just wearing me down and I get tired more easily. Tam and I have been working together on the shadow thing. Moving my hands is almost painless now, but I'm just so tired and weak. You know?'

Fitz sighed, sitting next to her. "I'm sorry. That sucks."

'Is something wrong? You guys look' Keefe stopped signing and frowned. Well, he barely moved a muscle in his face, but Sophie had learned to read the minuscule movements for what they were. 'I don't know the sign for the word I want. Upset maybe?'

"No, we're not upset. But we do have news." Sophie squeezed Fitz's hand. "We're having a baby."

Keefe's hands dropped to his lap and he stared. When he started signing again, his hands were shaking. 'No way. I can't believe it.'

She stood and pulled the fabric of her dress taut over her stomach.

'Whatever you're showing me, I can't see it. My head doesn't turn that way anymore.'

"Oh sorry." She stepped into Keefe's line of sight. "Is this better?"

His mouth tipped up at the corners, the closest they'd get to his huge smile. 'How long?"

Sophie sat back down and Fitz set his arm around her shoulders. "I'be five mouths even tomorrow, so roughly four more months."

'I think I can hold out that long.'

Fitz sighed, moving his hand so he could sign. "Don't feel pressured. We understand if it's too much for you."

'It's not really like that. When I was first getting used to it, it felt like the world was ending. As everyone acclimated and made allowances and my life got a lot better, I started be able to see myself getting through this, even if I was in pain for the rest of my life. But lately, waking up has been a struggle and there have been days where I can hear Ro panicking that I'm not responding because it's too much effort to open my eyes. I'll try, but right now, I'm fighting for every day. It might be a rough patch, it might be the fact that I'm dying. We don't know.'

Sophie squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to cry. Keefe didn't need tears right now, he needed to enjoy the time he had left. "I know you did a lot of sketching. Did you ever do rooms?"

'Oh yeah. I designed a whole house I was gonna build for myself when I moved out. Why do you ask?"

"We need help designing a nursery and we're not sure what to do."

'Okay. Cool. Go up to my old room and find my black notebook in the hidden cubby under my bed. That's where I put all the stuff I absolutely could not afford to have my parents find. Raw, unfiltered Keefster. But I will warn you, I am a teenage boy. Some of the stuff in there is weird and cringe-worthy.'

"Yeah. It's kind of weird to think about the stuff we did when we were younger now that we're in our twenties." Fitz pressed a kiss to Sophie temple and whispered, "I'll go see what I can find."

'Wait I'm how old?' Keefe signed, looking confused.

Sophie sighed, rubbing her belly. "Fitz is twenty-three, so that would mean you're twenty-two. I can't remember my inception date, but I know I'm roughly two years behind Fitz, so probably twenty-one."

'Back the T-rex up. It's been how long since Loanmore? Just how long have I had this nerve disorder?'

"Six and a half years, roughly."

His hands dropped into his lap again and he stared at the wall in shock. He hadn't stopped when Fitz came back with two journals in hand. "I wasn't sure which black notebook you wanted."

Keefe jumped and looked over. 'Hold them up.' When Fitz did, his eyes flicked between them and he signed, 'The one on the left. Put the one on the right under my bed. It's not something you want to see.'

Fitz obeyed, setting down the other notebook and flipping through the one Keefe had selected. "These look amazing, Keefe."

'Thanks. The nursery ones are toward the back.'

Sophie leaned her head on Fitz's shoulder as he flipped through the pictures Keefe had drawn. Most of them were room designs, varying from nurseries to toddler rooms to plenty of others.

"These are beautiful."

'Thanks. I meant to colour them all in, but I never got around to it. I always liked the idea of an airy but cosy nursery. Like, light and delicate with a big window and pastel colors, but cosy at the same time, with a few comfy chairs and a window seat stuffed with pillows.'

"Ooh, I like the sound of that." Sophie laid a finger on the page, stopping Fitz from turning it. "I like this one."

'Which one is it?'

She held up the page and showed him.

'So, funny story behind that one.'

Fitz snorted. "Um, what kind of story?"

'I actually designed that one with Sophie in mind. I was moping around and I'd gathered from Sophie's emotions that you guys weren't a thing anymore.'

"When did that happen?" Sophie asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Honestly, I have no idea. I was thinking 'this is my chance' ya know? But I got lost in my head and ended up drawing what I hoped my future could be with Sophie. I hope that's not creepy or anything, since you married someone else, I didn't mean it that way.'

She smiled. "It's not, don't worry. I understand. How do you think I felt while this guy was busy being totally oblivious?" She gently elbowed Fitz in the ribs. He went to elbow her back and stopped, eyes flicking to her stomach. He kept his arm firmly by his side.

Keefe smiled. 'There's a few pages stuck together. Don't try to pull them open. I stuck them together for a reason.'

Sophie bit her lip, looking for a way to say it gently. "We…already saw them."

He blushed, setting his hands in his lap and staring at them. When he answered, his hands were shaky, probably with embarrassment. 'You don't think it's weird?'

Fitz laughed. "Dude. We were both teenage boys. I can't help feeling a little territorial —ow, you like elbowing me today, did I do something I don't know about?— because it is my wife, but I get it. I probably would have done something similar, except I cannot draw anything more complicated than a few squares. But I definitely did the imagining part though. So don't worry about it."

Sophie raised an eyebrow at her husband. He blushed and stammered, "Uh, well, uh, I was—"

She cut him off. "A teenager, I know. I get it. That doesn't mean I did anything similar and I still think it's weird."

Keefe made the sign for 'laughter'. 'Have you told anyone else yet?'

Fitz dog-eared the page with the nursery Sophie liked and set it aside. "We'll be doing that at the family dinner tomorrow night. Dex is working on rigging up something so you can see us over the TV and we can see you, sort of like a giant Imparter. But between helping out his parents and custom tech orders and stuff, he hasn't had a lot of spare time."

'I totally understand.' Keefe suddenly went pale and his hands dropped to his lap in the middle of his next word. He stared with dull eyes at the wall in front of him. Sophie panicked, reaching out for his mind.

_Oh hey, Soph. Give me a sec._

_You gave me a heart attack! Do not scare me like that!_

_Really, I'll be good. Minor seizure, that's all._

Sophie huffed. _That's kind of a big deal._

He looked at her and signed shakily, 'Seriously, I'm okay. You don't need to be that worried. I have medicine I take for it. And I'm adjusting.'

Fitz sighed. "Still. That was scary."

'I know. Scares the crap out of Ro when she's not expecting it. Why do you think she takes breaks whenever someone else is here? Well, that and being my bodyguard is a little boring now, since I haven't gotten out of bed in six and a half years. Wait, has no one changed my sheets in six years?'

Sophie laughed, shaking her head. "Of course not, that's disgusting!"

"No, they're changed every other week while you're sleeping. You're not lying on a six-year-old pillowcase or anything." Fitz chuckled. "There's a team of about fifteen people who work to make sure you have the best quality of life possible, you know. Most of them have actually moved into Candleshade to give you more effective care."

'Huh. I was wondering how they got here so quickly every time I needed something. I didn't realize I actually had a team of people dedicated to me.'

"It gets rotated out." Sophie snuggled against Fitz's side, even though the angle made it hard to sign. "There's a few people that stay permanently, but everyone else is on a rotation to make sure they get experience in other places. But there have been plenty of students brought in for a month or two to help them get real-world experience with this kind of thing, should it pop up again."

'Cool. Do you guys need help with anything else design-wise? I'm good at that stuff.'

Fitz stood, lifting her with him. "If we do, we'll let you know. But we've got to head out. We need Biana's help with the surprise tonight, so we're stopping by the store to tell her."

'Oh cool. Are you guys hoping for a boy or a girl? Personally, I'd love a little niece to spoil. Although I could spoil a nephew just as easily.'

Sophie set a hand on her stomach. "I'm leaning toward boy and Fitz is cool with either. But I'll be happy with both."

'Awesome. You guys go tell everyone else and tell me what happens.'

"See you later. We'll come around more since Fitz is taking a vacation and I won't have a lot of stuff to do once I get farther along. And after I have the baby, we'll definitely bring him or her to meet you."

'I'm still betting it's a girl.'

"Honestly, that's what I'm thinking to." Fitz took Sophie's hand and squeezed gently.

She smiled, waving goodbye as they left.

* * *

When they got to Slurps and Burps, the first thing Sophie realized was just how long it had been since she'd visited. First of all, while it still looked like something out of Dr. Seuss, it was more…tasteful. That was the word she was looking for.

The door still belched on entry though.

Inside, the shelves were just as cramped as before, but every bottle was in its place and carefully labeled, making it feel cosy instead of overly messy.

_Wow, Biana's really had an influence. Or Juline stopped by, realized what a mess it is, and made Kelser clean up._

_I think it was Biana._

"I'll be with you in a moment!" Dex called from somewhere in the back of the store.

"Don't worry dear, I'll get it." Biana answered.

Sophie smiled.

Biana appeared at the end of the aisle, grinning wide when she saw them. "Hi guys!"

"Hey Biana, it's so good to see you!" Sophie hugged her sister-in-law tightly. "How are you?"

She grinned, letting go of Sophie to hug Fitz. "I'm doing great. What brings you here? As you can probably tell, we've been cleaning up and our stock is bigger than ever!"

Fitz chuckled as he squeezed his sister tightly. "You guys have been married for less than six months and you already refer to the store as partly yours."

"Well, Kesler and Juline still own it and Kesler still does a lot of the brewing, but Dex and I do most of the work. Occasionally, one of the triplets will stop by and help. What are you guys looking for today?"

Sophie leaned her head on Fitz's shoulder. "Actually, we need your help with something. Is there a place we can talk privately?"

Biana grinned, rubbing her hands together. "Follow me."

* * *

Sophie wasn't sure why she was nervous. It was just another family dinner. That she was going to announce her pregnancy at. The first grandchild on both sides of the family. And both Edaline and Della were going to squeal and coo and everyone was going to be making absolutely sure she didn't overexert herself. But of course there was the chance everything could go wrong. Just because Biana had reacted well didn't mean everyone else would. Maybe there was a weird elf culture stigma or something about not having kids too young that she didn't know about.

Fitz squeezed her hand under the table, interrupting her inner monologue. _Babe, you are way overthinking this. My parents have been waiting for grandkids for years. Mom was so disappointed when Alvar told her none of his girlfriends were serious enough to consider marriage and kids._

She gave him a soft smile, some of her worrying alleviated.

Biana reached up and tapped her temple three times, disguising the motion by sweeping her hair behind her ear as she continued her animated conversation with Dex and Alden about how the shop was doing.

Sophie reached out and formed the connection.

_Are you gonna make a move soon? You're running out of time._

_Biana, relax. I have this taken care of. Although I'm the last person who should be telling you to relax about this. I'm all worked up myself._

_You'll do great. But you should probably get a move on._

Sophie nodded slightly and broke the connection.

"Hey Mom?"

Edaline jumped, choking on her mouthful of juice. She managed not to spew it all over the table, but there was a lot of coughing before she could speak. "I have got to stop trying to breathe and drink at the same time. Yes dear?"

"Fitz and I stopped in California on vacation and we picked up some gifts for you guys, Alden and Della. I think Flori's got them with her."

Grady smiled. "You really didn't have to."

"What about us?" Dex asked, fake-pouting.

Tam chuckled, rolling his eyes. Linh sighed. "You know, maybe they wanted to get something nice for their parents."

Biana elbowed her husband gently. "Oh, stop it you."

Sophie laughed as Flori handed out four nicely wrapped bags to her parents and in-laws. "Don't forget to read the cards. They're important."

Alden stopped digging through the tissue, noticing the white envelope he'd knocked on the table. "Oh, okay."

"Sophie, what's this?" Edaline turned it around to show Sophie. "I don't get it."

"It's a scratch-off card. They were really popular in San Diego for a while. The gold bit you scratch off to reveal what's underneath."

"Oh cool." Della set to work scraping off the gold, but Grady was the one to finish first, if his pale, shocked face was anything to go by. But he kept his peace, waiting for everyone else to finish before he said anything.

Alden's jaw dropped and the card slipped from his hand as he stared at Sophie and Fitz. "No way. You're joking."

At his reaction, Della and Edaline hurried to finish theirs, the latter getting there first. "Sophie…"

"Would someone please tell me what's going on?" Dex asked.

Sophie grinned. "Check the bag."

Grady pawed through the wrapping and pulled out the shirt Sophie had gotten for him. He frowned at the English words, checking the translation Sophie had written on the back of the card.

Tam sighed. "Okay guys, you clearly know something we don't."

Della had given up scraping off her own card and picked up Alden's. She looked at Sophie, eyes wide. "You're having a baby?"

Sophie nodded, unable to find anything to say.

The room went dead silent, then very loud as everyone shouted their congratulations. Linh scrambled to her feet and ran over to hug Sophie tightly. Edaline started crying and had to take a moment to pull herself together before giving Sophie a teary hug and congratulations. Grady wrapped Fitz in a bear hug, laughing.

Dex waited for Sophie to be free before he swooped in and hugged her tightly. "No way!"

"Yes way." Sophie pointed to her stomach. She'd chosen a style of dress that made her bump more obvious, but it did make her look bigger than she really was. "Five months today."

"That was fast." Della commented apparently having done the math in her head.

Everyone burst out laughing.

Sophie giggled. "Part of that's the dress. I'm still pretty small right now."

Someone knocked at the door and Alden called, "Come in!" before thumping Fitz in the back in congratulations.

"Wow. We're late one time and we miss a big announcement." Kesler joked from the doorway where he stood hand-in-hand with Juline. "Honestly we weren't even that late."

Fitz laughed. "You're fine."

"So what's the big occasion?" Juline asked, exchanging hugs with Dex and Biana.

"Sophie's pregnant." Grady said with a huge smile.

"I thought you guys were buying a lot of nausea remedies. Guess I know why! Congratulations!" Kesler wrapped both of them in a hug, crushing Sophie's already bruised ribs.

"Okay, let's ease up on the hugs." Fitz said, setting a protective arm around Sophie's waist. "She needs to breathe still."

She coughed, rubbing her side. "Careful. Baby likes to try and break my ribs."

Della laughed. "She gets it from her father. Fitz actually cracked one of my ribs once. My physician thought it was hilarious."

Biana snickered.

"Don't you start! You cracked two! Honestly, Alvar was the only one who didn't try to kill me from the inside out."

Sophie groaned. "Ugh. That sounds great."

Edaline giggled. "I wouldn't be worried, really. It's not common. I know we're not biologically related, but when I had Jolie, she never kicked that hard. It was more like little taps."

Juline sighed. "Dex was that way. It was so nice. The triplets, however, used my insides as a trampoline! I knew there had to be more than one, or one baby with four legs. I'm pretty sure they broke something, but I felt like crud throughout that pregnancy, so I don't remember."

"You know that's not encouraging." Sophie grumbled.

* * *

"Hey, hon."

Sophie groaned, pushing herself up to sitting. "What?"

"We finished painting. Do you want to come see?" Fitz had poked his head in the door, smiling.

"I guess. I'm not feeling so great. At least baby's calmed down. Not bouncing off my insides anymore." She tried to stand up and sighed. "Can you give me a hand?"

He walked over to her and held out his hands. Sophie gripped his hands and pulled herself up, leaning most of her weight on him.

"Okay, I'm up. Let's go see what progress you guys have made."

"We followed the sketch Keefe made almost exactly. It's got that big comfy window seat and a rocker and everything."

"It sounds amazing." She glanced down the stairs as they passed. "I am so glad I didn't nap on the couch. I hate getting up and down the stairs. I really need to learn to levitate better."

Fitz chuckled. "Don't push yourself. I am perfectly happy to carry you."

"Even with all this?" Sophie gestured to the sixty-or-so pounds worth of bump now stuck to her front. "I think I've almost doubled in weight since I got pregnant. Not to mention my boobs are _so sore_ and they've about doubled in size."

"And you look beautiful." He opened the door to the nursery. "Be careful of the walls. Some spots are still wet. What do you think?"

Her mouth dropped open. "It's wonderful."

The walls had been painted a pale blue with white trim around the edge of the ceiling and the large window. The windowsill had been extended with storage built underneath it and the new window seat covered in cushions, framed with blue ruffly curtains. There was a pastel pink rocker with impossibly soft cushions in the corner that Sophie sat down in.

"Is this polka dotted?" Sophie asked, looking closer at the arm of the chair. There were little white dots in rows across the pink. "It is."

"Amy picked out the fabric for that."

"I love it."

The bassinet was on her left, with a heather grey fitted sheet and crocheted yellow and blue blanket draped over the side. She leaned closer and then looked at Fitz. "You didn't."

He smiled. "Yeah, I did."

"Is this really?" She reached over and fingered the lacy edge. "This is the old baby blanket my mom made for me. Where did you find this?"

"It was still in storage. It was little ratty and itchy, so the gnomes washed in and repaired a few places to make it more durable. I would've liked to contact her and get a new one made for our baby, but this is the best I can do."

Sophie bit her lip, struggling to hold back the tears threatening to overflow, and whispered, "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry."

"Hey." He crossed the room and knelt in front of her, taking her hands. "It's okay."

"Yeah, I know. My emotions have been all over the place. But it's just so sweet of you!" Her efforts failed and she burst into tears.

"Hey." Fitz lifted her up again into his arms. "Hey, hey, hey. You're okay."

"I know." She wiped her eyes. "I don't know why I'm crying."

"Well, that's the last of the preparations. We've got everything stocked, the furniture arranged, all we're waiting on is the paint to dry. Everything is ready for whenever Baby Moonlark is ready to show up."

Sophie groaned. "I've got mixed feelings. I can't wait to meet him or her and I want to get it over with, but I'm nervous and don't really wanna. I feel terrible and out of energy."

"Okay. Dex headed home as soon as we were done. Biana's finishing up the little dress she was making. Do you want to go lie down?"

"Yes and no. I'm exhausted already and I would love to just sleep straight from now until I go into labor, but I just woke up and should probably do something before I go back to bed."

"How about I carry you downstairs and we make cookies?"

Sophie grinned. "Okay. But make sure I don't eat too many at a time."

He laughed. "Making no promises. You know your puppy eyes are nigh impossible to resist."

* * *

Sophie's eyes flew open. It was pitch black and there was no sound, nothing that could have woken here.

She sat up with some difficulty. Fitz was sound asleep, which didn't make much sense. He was a much lighter sleeper than she was.

Then she realized the sheets under her were wet.

Sophie gasped when a sudden pressure built in her hips then went away. Her husband stirred next to her but didn't wake, disturbed by her panic flowing over their Cognate bond.

_I'm in labour._ She didn't transmit it, not wanting to wake Fitz up. But she was actually having her baby. It was happening. It was all happening.

She leaned over and picked up her watch sitting on her bedside table to check the time. Ugh. Four in the morning was way too early for this. She lay down and went back to sleep.

* * *

Someone was shaking her shoulders and she groaned, rubbing her eyes and she rolled onto her back. "Whasgoinon?"

"Sophie, wake up! Please wake up!"

"'M right here. What's wrong?"

"Are you okay? The bed is soaking wet with something that's not water and you weren't responding."

"Oh. My water broke."

"Your _water broke?!_"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I went into labor."

"How long ago was this?"

"I dunno. I went back to sleep."

He groaned, flopping back onto his side of the bed. "Why didn't you tell me? We need to hail Livvy and get to wherever we're supposed to be, oh crap I don't remember and-"

"Fitz, I'm fine, I'm tired. Let me go back to sleep. What time is it anyway?" Sophie tried to will herself back to sleep, but Fitz's fear bleeding over into her head kept her awake.

"Sophie. You're in labour. You can't go back to sleep, you're having a baby." He slid his arm under her back and lifted her up to sitting. "This is serious, love."

"Ugh, okay, I'm up. I'm still tired though."

Fitz got out of bed and threw on what clothes he could find with an ease Sophie missed. "I know you're tired. I would be if I weren't panicking. But you still have put something on and get ready to go."

"What I'm wearing is fine."

"What you're wearing is soaked."

"Okay, I'll change." Sophie managed not to fall as she rolled out of bed and hunted around in her closet for clothes. "You hail Livvy."

* * *

Fitz slumped in a chair, head in his hands. _Stop panicking, stop panicking, stop panicking, stop panicking, stop panicking._ Nothing anyone had told him made him feel any better and it wasn't even sunrise. He still had no idea what was going on, probably because Livvy had kicked him out since his panic was stressing Sophie out and the last thing she needed to be right now was stressed.

He pulled out his Imparter, which he'd found in a crack in his desk, and whispered shakily. "Show me Alden."

It rang for a few beats before his father's face appeared on the screen, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Why are you hailing me this early? The sun's not even up. Did something happen?"

"Yeah. Sophie went into labour, right on time apparently."

"Oh." Alden blinked. "That's important."

"Yeah! Apparently her water broke and she just went back to sleep instead of, y'know, telling me and getting ready to go." He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Livvy kicked me out cause I was panicking too much."

Alden groaned. "I understand that you need support, I was terrified when Alvar was born, until your mom told me to shut up. But I had a really late night and I have got to sleep. Give me a couple hours and I'll be there, but I need enough energy to be supportive. Grady should be up. Is that okay?"

Fitz sighed. "I don't know. I'm terrified something's going to go wrong or…Honestly I have no idea what's going on. I should have been paying much closer attention during Sophie's checkups."

"I understand that. I got kicked out when you were born because your shoulder got stuck and I almost passed out because I was hyperventilating. Your mom thought I was a massive wimp."

"You were!" Della called from offscreen.

His father sighed. "The point is, I get it. I'll bug Grady to head over there and keep you distracted. Are you guys at the birthing center?"

"No. Sophie wanted a more private setting, so we're at Livvy's office complex thing. There are plenty of doctors on standby, but Sophie wasn't comfortable with that unless something went wrong.."

"Okay." Alden yawned. "I'll send him to Cliffside, does that work?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll see you in a few hours. Love you."

"You too. Bye Dad."

It took all of his effort to not start panicking again. He managed to be able to send soothing, encouraging thoughts to Sophie without her seeing his terror.

His Imparter rang and he checked the time before he answered Grady's hail. Yeesh. It was way earlier than he thought it was.

"Hey Grady. Sorry, I didn't realize how early it was."

"You're okay. I wake up this early to get started feeding animals. Alden told me Sophie went into labour."

He sighed, running a hand down his face. "Yeah. She didn't tell me when her water broke in the middle of the night, she went back to sleep. So I didn't know for a few more hours and our mattress is probably going to have to be replaced now. I hope I can get that done before Sophie gets home."

Grady winced. "Eesh. That's not fun. How's she doing?"

"I don't know. Livvy kicked me out because I was panicking too much. But she said there was nothing to be stressed about, everything was going exactly the way it was supposed to."

"Not very comforting though, is it?" Grady gave him a sympathetic smile. "Do you have anything you need to do?"

"Not that I know of. Livvy said she'll get me if Sophie wants me, but that's all I know."

"Okay. Would you like to come out here and help me feed the animals while you wait?" He set the Imparter down and stepped out of view, having a short murmured conversation with Edaline before stepping back into view. "It'll help keep you distracted."

Fitz managed to give a half-smile back. "I'll ask. I don't want to leave if she needs me."

"Good choice. Part of the reason I resigned as an Emissary the first time is the Council tried to call me away for a mission while Eda was in labour with Jolie. She was so mad, I bet the only thing that kept her from getting up and _screaming_ her head off at the Council was the fact that she was lying down and couldn't get up without help. I refused to go anyway."

Fitz snorted. "I don't understand that, honestly. I mean, really."

"Doesn't make any sense to me either."

"I'll ask Sophie what she wants me to do and head over." Fitz reached out to Sophie, gently caressing her mind.

_What?_ She sounded exhausted and annoyed, but otherwise fine.

_Hey sweetheart. Is it okay if I go chat with Grady and help him feed animals?_

_Whatever. I don't care. Just get out of my head, I need to concentrate._

He shrugged. _Okay_. "She told me to get out of her head and let her concentrate, so I think I'm good."

"Okay. You head on over."

"Be there in a minute." Fitz ended the hail and stood, feeling a bit better. He knocked on the door and Livvy answered, looking as annoyed as Sophie sounded.

"What?"

"I was gonna go do something to distract myself. Is that okay?"

"Did Sophie say it was?"

"I think so? She said she didn't care."

"Okay." Livvy sighed. "I was expecting it, but this is still gonna take a while. I'm gonna see if Sophie can get a little more sleep in before she has to push so she has more energy, but that could be hours. I know people who were in labour for two days straight. It's not a short process."

Fitz bit his lip and sighed. "That doesn't help my nerves."

"I know. But she'll be fine, I promise. And she'll do better if she can concentrate on just one thing. And if she asks for you, I'll hail you. But if I do, you better get your butt over here as fast as you can."

"Yes ma'am."

Livvy closed the door again and Fitz went outside, flipping to the facet for Havenfield.

Grady was outside tossing bales of multicoloured hay over a fence, thick cloak swung around his shoulder to ward off the chill in the early morning air. "Hey man. You doing okay?"

"Better than I was." Fitz hugged his father-in-law tightly and sighed. "I'm still scared though. There are a ton of things that could go wrong. I'm excited too. I can't want to see my baby. But I am in no way ready for this."

Grady grinned, heaving another bale over and dusting off the bits stuck to his clothes. "I wasn't either. No one really is. When the physician handed Jolie to me for the first time, I looked at her and thought, 'How am I supposed to not screw this up?' I was not ready for the responsibility of a small thing depending on Eda and I for everything. But you learn quickly and you know more than you think you do. I'm sure you helped your parents with Biana, didn't you?"

"Not really." Fitz helped him open a sack of something that smelled like rotting meat and tossed handfuls at the five vermilions in their pen. "I'm only two years older than her. Alvar did a lot of helping with both of us though. He was eleven years older than me."

"Ah. I didn't realize how large the age gap was between you two." Grady nailed one vermilion in the side with a well-placed throw. "I like to see if I can hit 'em with their breakfast. It's probably not the wisest course of action, but it's fun." One of them threw itself against the fence, snarling, and Fitz jumped back. "Case in point."

"Yeah. I still don't know how I'm not going to mess it up. I never realized how hard being a dad is until I'm going to be one in less than twenty-four hours. I could seriously screw up my kid's life if I'm not careful." Fitz didn't feel brave enough to hit the vermilions, so he just tossed it over the fence. "I mean, look at Lord Cassius. He thought he was doing just fine and he really messed Keefe up."

Grady laughed. "Really, don't worry about it too much. You really do know more than you think you know and Alden, Kesler and I are always here if you need parenting advice, a break, or a free babysitter. Do you guys know the gender?"

"No. Sophie wanted it to be a surprise. Keefe was leaning toward girl, Sophie's hoping for a boy, but I don't really care. It's pretty much an equal amount of work and chances to mess up."

"That depends on the child. Can you haul down a few things of brattails from up there? I think we're finally getting somewhere with Verdi." Grady pointed to a labeled stack of sacks. Fitz clambered up and tossed them down until Grady told him to stop. "We'll haul them over and dump them in her trough later, hopefully she'll eat them with minimal fuss. Jolie was a very easygoing baby, even though she was clingy. But she would entertain herself as long as she could see you. Otherwise, she threw a fit. Edaline made a sling so she could carry Jolie on either her back or her front and that worked until she outgrew her clinginess and then we put her in a playpen outside while she worked. That was how we learned the importance of sunscreen."

Fitz smiled. "I was apparently the easiest as a baby. Mom said Alvar always had to be held to the point where he didn't learn to walk until really late. I remember Biana used to scream as loud as she could in the middle of the night. Mom used more makeup to hide her dark circles until Biana slept through the night than I think she's ever worn. But I was still taking naps in the afternoons, so I got plenty of sleep."

They kept talking as they finished feeding animals over the course of what felt like an hour.

Suddenly, his Imparter rang and Fitz jumped, dropping the sack of brattails on his foot. "Ouch, these things are heavy!"

"Yeah, they are."

He helped Grady pull the sack off his foot and answered the hail.

Livvy was out of breath and looked scared. "So, change of plans. We're headed to the birthing centre. Don't worry, Sophie's fine, baby's fine, everything's fine, but we need someone with more experience. But things started going really fast right after you left, so we've got four hours max left. But you're fine, finish up what you're doing." She ended the hail before he could say anything.

Fitz managed to tuck the Imparter into his pocket before his vision went blurry and he swayed on his feet, almost passing out before Grady lowered him down to sit on the dewy grass.

"Is something wrong?"

"I don't know. She just said plans changed, they're going to the birthing center and everything's moving really fast, but everyone's fine."

"Okay. But you did still almost pass out." Grady patted his back and stood, slicing open another bag of brattails and dumping them into Verdi's trough. "Are you okay?"

"Worried. I don't know what going on, but she said Sophie was okay, so I'm trying to stay calm."

"Ooh, that sucks. Kesler could tell you all about when the triplets were born. He panicked and had to be sedated because he freaked out so back when the nurse told him there was more than one."

"Sophie would kill me if I did that. She's been really snappy and gets upset easily since she got pregnant." Fitz shoved the nearest bag over to Grady.

He cringed, taking the bag and ripping it open. "Sorry about that. Eda wasn't very angry, but she cried over every little thing. It took a lot of deep breaths and calming myself down to get through it. Did Livvy mention how much longer she expected it to take?"

"Four, I think. Sophie said she went into labour around 4am this morning."

Grady leaned against the fence, doing the math in his head. "Only six to eight hours total? That's kinda short for the first kid. It usually takes longer."

"Does it? That sounds like a really long time to me."

"It's not really. Edaline had contractions for at least two days if I remember correctly before her water actually broke, so she was technically in labour for almost four days."

"Oh wow."

Grady walked over and sat in the grass next to him. "Yeah it was kind of ridiculous. Did you guys decide on a visitor policy?"

Fitz shook his head. "We've been really stressed and we didn't think about it. What's your suggestion?"

His father-in-law sighed. "We did a day to settle in at home and adjust before we allowed any visitors. You can do whatever length of time you want, as long as it's not too ridiculous. I'd suggest at least overnight. Give you guys time to get to know your baby and Sophie time to recover before anyone shows up. But if you nee more time than that, that's okay. But set some sort of boundary, especially if some of the people on your side of the family are known for being a little on the crazy side."

"Okay. I've got a few relatives on both my mom and dad's sides that have a hard time being reasonable, but they don't even know we got married, let alone pregnant or having a baby in the next few hours. So I'm not very worried."

"You probably didn't get a chance to eat anything, did you?"

Fitz shook his head. "I was too frantic, trying to get us out the door."

"Since you've got nothing else to do, why don't you have breakfast with us? It'll be nice to have the company again."

"Okay."

Fitz's Imparter rang again and he answered it, taking a deep breath.

Livvy had a huge smiled on her face, so that was a good sign. "It's a girl."

"Huh?" His mouth dropped open and he couldn't process the words.

"It's a girl. The baby's here. You're a dad."

Fitz laughed in disbelief, almost dropping his Imparter, and repeated the words. "I'm a dad."

Grady whooped, clapping him on the back. "Congratulations! Although that was really fast."

"She's kind of small, although petite is a better word. But definitely not as big as we thought she was going to be. At first, we thought there might be twins because she didn't look big enough, but nope, just one."

"Okay, good. I don't think I could deal with two. Should I head over now?"

"No, give us a chance to clean up a bit and take her home. Sophie wants to be by herself with baby girl for a bit to recuperate for a few minutes. Run around and tell people, then head back to your house. We'll be there."

Fitz nodded and ended the hail, still not sure if this was reality. "I can't believe it. I'm a dad."

"Yup. You scram. Go say hi to your new daughter." Grady made a shooing motion. "I'll tell Eda. Is it okay if we stop by this afternoon or wait til tomorrow?"

"This afternoon should be fine" He leapt to Cliffside, unable to keep the beaming smile off his face.

Livvy was waiting outside, grinning. "You're here faster than I though you'd be."

"I recognized my house behind you. Is Sophie in our room?"

"Yes. The gnomes had to replace your mattress apparently?" Livvy led him inside and up the stairs.

"Yeah. Sophie's water broke all over it."

Sophie was lying in bed, eyes closed but not asleep. There was a tiny bundle in her arms wrapped in the old knitted blanket with two tiny hands playing with a lock of Sophie's hair.

Fitz sat carefully on the edge of the bed, leaning over to cup the side of Sophie's face in his hand. "Hey beautiful."

She opened her eyes and smiled. "Hey."

"How'd it go?"

"I don't remember. I just did what the physicians told me to do and then she was screaming and they handed her to me and there she was. Livvy was a little scared though, that she was too small since I was pushing for less than an hour. But she's perfect. And fascinated with my hair." Sophie smiled down at her daughter in her arms. "You can hold her if you want."

He held out his arms and she sat up, carefully setting the baby in his arms. The baby gave a squawk of disapproval when Sophie's hair was pulled out of her reach. "Hey there. I'm your daddy. Hi baby girl."

She stared up at him with huge brown eyes, then giggled and gave him a big toothless grin.

"She's got your eyes."

"Yeah, she does."

"I don't really think Felicity fits her. I know you like that name, but I don't think it really works."

Sophie nodded, reaching over and rubbing her finger over their daughter's hand. "I agree. And Felicity Elizabeth is kind of redundant. But I'm not sure what else to do. Unless you like Jolie."

Fitz looked down at baby again. "Jolie. Yeah, I like that. What do you think little lady?"

She giggled and cooed.

Sophie smiled. "Jolie Elizabeth Vacker it is."

* * *

Sophie pulled the second tray of cookies out of the oven, taking a deep breath of the melted chocolate and brown sugar smell. "These are gonna be good, aren't they, JoJo?"

Her daughter cooed from her highchair where she was playing with a small stuffed bat Amy had gotten for her on her trip to South Dakota.

"They're gonna be really good after dinner with a movie and hot cocoa, huh?" She booped Jolie on the nose and grinned.

Jolie giggled, covering her nose.

"You're so silly." She turned around and slid the next tray into the oven. Humming a lively song, she slid the the cookies one by one onto a cooling rack.

Sophie glanced over at Jolie and frowned. "Where'd you get that from? No cookies until after dinner."

She gently pried the cookie out of her daughter's hand, despite the squawks of protest, and set it aside, several feet out of the five-month-old's reach.

When she turned back around to get something out of the cupboard, Jolie had another cookie in her hands. Sophie took the cookie away again. This repeated a few times of Jolie somehow obtaining a cookie and Sophie taking it away from her.

After the fifth repitition, Sophie moved all the cookies to the other end of the kitchen and yelled, "Fitz, please stop giving Jo-Jo cookies! You know she's not supposed to have any before dinner!"

"Wait, you made cookies?" His footsteps thumped down the stairs.

"You haven't been giving them to her?"

"No, I was upstairs."

Sophie narrowed her eyes at Jolie. Then they widened in surprise when she realized what her daughter was doing.

A cookie from the tray on the other end of the kitchen lifted a few inches in the air and slowly floated across the fifteen or so feet to Jolie's outstretched hands. The baby giggled and began gnawing on her prize.

"That wasn't you, right?"

Fitz shook his head.

Jolie waved her chocolate and crumb covered hand. "Cookie!"

"This is not what I expected her first word to be." Sophie said. "I think I'll let her have that one. She earned it."

* * *

"Fitz, do you have Jolie?" Sophie yelled, looking around for her missing daughter.

"No, I thought you were baking with her!" he called.

"I was. I put her down on her blanket and when I turned around, she was gone." She heard the sound of an amused giggle and looked up the stairs.

Jolie was little halfway up the stairs, looking very proud of herself. "Hai!"

"How did you get up there, JoJo?"

She pointed up the stairs."Dada."

"Yeah, Dada's up there. Did you crawl all the way up there from the kitchen?"

Jolie didn't answer, turning around and starting her way up the stairs again.

"Fitz, come look! Jolie's crawling!"

He came running to the top of the stairs. "Oh wow. Did she get all the way up here by herself?"

"Yeah."

"Oh wow." He trotted down the last few steps to Jolie and scooped his daughter up in his arms. "Looks like we're mobile now. You're gonna get into everything, aren't you?"

"Dada." Jolie snuggled into his shoulder.

* * *

"Okay. Let's try this again." Sophie held Jolie upright by her arms, sitting a few feet away from Fitz. "Come on, baby girl. Walk to Dada."

Jolie took a step, but as soon as Sophie let go, she stopped and stood there for a few seconds before plopping onto her bum and crawling across the floor into Fitz's lap.

She sighed. "We know you're great at crawling, kiddo, but you have to walk."

"I walk?" Jo asked.

"Yeah, baby, you walk."

"No." She snuggled against Fitz and buried her face in his stomach.

He sighed, lifting her up in his arms. "You gotta walk sometime. You're great at crawling. I promise, walking's fun!"

"No."

Sophie sighed, standing up. "She really doesn't want to walk. I wonder what's wrong."

"Maybe we could ask her. She's a smart kid, so she might tell us." Fitz set Jolie on the floor in front of him. "Why don't you want to walk, baby girl?"

JoJo crossed her arms. "No."

"I think someone's a little grumpy. Maybe we should take a nap instead of going to Grammy's house." Sophie said, leaning down to pick her up.

"No!" Jolie squealed. "I walk!" She pushed herself up to standing and took three stubborn steps toward the stairs. "I walk!"

* * *

Keefe grinned, letting Jolie hold onto his finger. She giggled, accepting the hug substitute. JoJo understood that Uncle Keefe needed his hands to talk, but they were working on, 'we don't hug Uncle Keefe because he's sick and hugs hurt him.'

'Can I have my finger back now? I need to talk to your parents.' It took him longer to sign with one hand, but Jolie understood and let go, snuggling into Sophie's lap.

'Great. Have I mentioned how freaking adorable she is?"

"Almost every time we come visit." Sophie smiled. "Lady Iltaurielle came by."

'Oh! What'd she say?'

Fitz shook his hands out. "All of the Neverseen are either killed or captured. They have your mom in custody, everyone else they captured was tried both here and where Iltaurielle's from. Some of them received a death sentence, but most of them got life imprisonment. The Council weren't very happy about the death sentences."

'Oh. I wasn't expecting it to take that long.'

"It didn't." Sophie said. "The part that took a long time was the paperwork and extracting some members that were deep in the nobility, there was even one in the matchmaker's offices, without making a fuss. But she's confident they have everyone now."

'Ooh. That sucks. What are they going to do about my mom?'

"I'm not repeating Iltaurielle's exact words, but Lady Gisela's sentence is up to you. They've got a nasty cell with her name on in the the worst prison we're able to get or you can leave her to rot where she is. Iltaurielle is firm on wanting to execute her though. But it's your choice."

Keefe didn't answer for a few minutes. 'I'll have to think about it. I mean, it's my mom. I can't just hand her a death sentence.'

"I understand. Even with all the awful stuff she did, even though she gave you this nerve disorder that's going to kill you, it's still a hard decision."

"Stinker."

"What'd you say, JoJo?"

"She's a stinker. I don't like her."

Sophie burst out laughing, holding Jolie against her so she didn't fall. "Did you just call Lady Gisela a stinker?"

"Ya."

Keefe grinned, some of the old Keefster smirk returning to his face. 'I like this kid! She's got guts.'

"This is the first time she's heard of your mom, much less met her.

'It's still funny.'

* * *

**So, you guys have a choice. (Again, I know.) Do you guys want to see Jolie's first birthday? If the answer is yes, that will be a short bonus chapter next week instead of the last chapter. It's up to you guys.**

**As always, reviewers will get a teaser for the next chapter. (Just let me know if you don't want one.) I will publish the last chapter of this book next Wednesday, unless you guys want the bonus chapter. Entirely up to you.**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


	18. My Last Defeat My Last Battle

**IT. IS. FINISHED. Yes, the bonus chapter is still coming, whenever I have time. Sophie does drop a few minor swearwords in this chapter talking to Lord Cassius, so watch out for that if it's not something you want to read.**

* * *

"Mom."

"Yes?"

"Mom."

"What?"

"Mom!"

"What?"

"Mom!"

"What!?"

At this point, Sophie wasn't sure if Jolie actually wanted anything.

Her now four-year-old daughter was going through a phase where she would repeatedly ask for either Mom or Dad and then never actually tell you what she wanted. They were making an effort to spend more time with her, but as Keefe got weaker and weaker with each passing day, relations with the dwarves tensed nearly to the breaking point despite Nubiti's efforts, and both her and Fitz's work piled up, they had less and less time for their family.

"Why are you wearing those fancy clothes?"

This time, she actually said what she wanted. They were making progress.

"We're going to see Uncle Keefe."

"I know that, but why are you wearing fancy clothes?"

Dang it. They'd been hoping she wouldn't notice. Sophie pushed the last pin into her hair and bent down, lifting her daughter into her lap. "So, you know how Daddy and I told you about how Uncle Keefe is really sick?"

"Yeah." Jolie's face lost its smile immediately.

"Well, he's getting worse. We don't know how much longer he's going to live."

"That doesn't actually explain why you're all dressed up."

"It's…out of respect, I guess. I just felt like I should. Especially if this is the last time we see him." Sophie wiped her eyes and sighed, dabbing on a little more concealer in the hopes of hiding some of the dark circles from too many late nights.

"What do you mean?" Jolie cocked her head to the side.

Sophie took a deep breath. Jolie had asked her that before and she'd always redirected and distracted. Now there was no avoiding it. "It means that he is going to die and it's probably going to be soon."

"You mean, when we go to Candleshade, he won't be there anymore?"

Sophie shook her head. "No, he won't."

Jolie's brow furrowed. "Will he be somewhere else? Is he getting better?"

This conversation was getting nowhere and Sophie wasn't sure how much more explaining she could do without breaking down in tears._ Fitz, I need your help._

_What's wrong?_

_Jolie wanted to know why we were getting dressed up and I told her the truth and she got confused. I'm not sure how to explain it without breaking down._

"Hey, Jojobean."

Jolie slid down from Sophie's lap and ran to her father, wiggling when he scooped her up in his arms. "Hi Daddy." She wrapped her arms around his neck and grinned. "Why is Mommy upset?"

Fitz sighed. "Mama's upset because Uncle Keefe is dying."

"What's that mean?"

"It means he's going to go away. For a really, really long time."

"Will he ever come back?"

He shook his head. "No he won't, baby."

"You mean, like Uncle Kenric?"

Jolie had immediately started referring to Kenric as 'Uncle Kenric' after they'd told her about it. Sophie had tried to break her of the habit, especially after she started called Oralie 'Aunt Oralie'. They'd managed to cut it down to just 'Oralie' or 'Miss Oralie', but nothing they did made her stop calling Kenric her uncle.

"Yeah." Sophie sighed, deciding she didn't have the energy for any more makeup than she already had on and stood. "Like Kenric."

"Oh." With that information, Jolie seemed to understand. She leaned her head against Fitz's shoulder, tiny face somber.

"Are you okay?" Fitz asked, eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

Sophie shook her head, but didn't say anything. She didn't want to upset Jolie too much. Rubbing her daughter's shoulder, she said, "How about you go get dressed to go, okay Junebug? Your daddy and I need to talk."

"Okay, Mama." Jolie slid down to the ground and ran off.

Fitz wrapped Sophie in a hug and they clung to each other, doing their bests to stave off tears. Sophie was shaking, both from crying and from holding back her sobs.

_I wish this hadn't happened._ she finally transmitted.

Fitz rubbed her back tenderly._ So do I._

_I know there's nothing we can do, but I would trade all my abilities just to be able to turn back the clock and fix this. I've lost so much. I don't want to lose him too._

"But you've got me." he murmured. "And Jolie and our parents and friends."

"I know."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It's just, it's another life we can't stop the Neverseen from taking. Another grieving family. Another funeral. Another tragedy that we can't stop, years after we should have been done with them. I know I have a wonderful family I wouldn't give up for anything. I've gained so much. But I've lost just as much or more. Is it that selfish to want all of my family to be okay? I'd even settle for just alive."

"No." Fitz pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. "Everyone wants that. You just have to fight a lot harder for it. I understand."

"Mommy, Daddy, I'm ready to go." Jolie hugged her father's leg. She'd changed from her flowy summer dress to a near-identical mini-version of her mother's dress. It was a deep emerald green with a tasteful amount of ruffles and jewels. Her chocolate brown waves hung around her face and down her back. Honestly, Sophie was a little jealous of her daughter's hair.

"Okay." Fitz leaned down and picked her up.

Sophie gently ticked Jolie's bare feet dangling below the edge of her skirt. "Where's your shoes?"

JoJo giggled, kicking her feet in an attempt to get away from the tickling. "I don't know."

"Are you sure?" Fitz asked, joining the tickle onslaught.

She laughed, trying to shove their hands away. "Nooo!"

"You gotta have shoes, babycakes. We can't go if you don't have shoes."

"You can carry me." Jolie giggled, trying to climb high in her father's arms.

Fitz chuckled, swinging her onto his back. "Not the whole way. Let's go find some shoes for you."

Sophie smiled as she watched her husband and daughter, listening to their laughter as they hunted for a matching pair of Jolie's shoes. Fitz was right. Even though she had lost so much, she still had a family, both immediate and extended, and friends that loved her. She had a wonderful husband and a perfect precious daughter who would never know the hardships they had endured. Everything she'd fought for was right here.

They came back breathing hard and cheeks pink from laughter. Jolie had a pair of white sandals on her feet, though they were a little scuffed on the toes.

"Are you ready to go now?"

Jolie nodded and giggled. "We're gonna go see Uncle Keefe now!"

"Yup! Let's go see Uncle Keefe." Sophie took her daughter's free hand and she and Fitz swung her between them as the mounted the short stairway to the Leapmaster.

Jolie jerked her parents' hands rapidly. "Can I make it go, please?"

"Okay. You know where we're going?" Sophie lifted JoJo up into her arms, wrapping her concentration around the small bundle of wiggles tightly.

"Ya! We're going to Candleshade! Are you ready, Daddy?"

Fitz chuckled, wrapping his arms around both of them. "Yep, I'm ready, babycakes."

Jolie took a deep breath and shouted, "Candleshade!"

The crystal spun into the light, whisking them away.

* * *

"Hey, short stuff!"

"Hi Aunty Ro!" Jolie squealed, running over to Ro and laughing as the ogre princess scooped her up onto her shoulders. Ro had chosen a metal-studded leather jerkin and loose shorts over her metal corset and bottom once Jolie had gotten big enough to want piggyback rides. She'd been afraid of hurting her, even after Sophie had assured her Jolie wasn't as breakable as she looked.

"Wow, you look so pretty! Is this a new dress?"

JoJo blushed. "Yeah. Aunt Banana gave it to me for my birthday."

Jolie had initially mispronounced Biana's name as Banana when she was little and the nickname had stuck despite efforts to change it.

"That's super cool!"

"Can you give me a piggyback ride?"

Sophie sighed, smiling. "What are you forgetting, Jo?"

"Can I have a piggyback ride please?" Jolie corrected herself.

Ro frowned, pretending to think about it. "Oh, I don't know. I have a lot of really important stuff to do and, oh who am I kidding, of course you can. Do you think we can beat your parents?"

"Oh, are we racing now?" Fitz asked, swinging Sophie's hand gently.

"Yeah!" Jolie yelled. "Let's go!"

Ro laughed. "Hang on!"

Sophie laughed, not bothering to walk any faster as Ro and Jolie ran towards the house and disappeared inside. Fitz dropped her hand and slid his arm around her waist, holding her close as they walked.

"They're definitely going to beat us."

Sophie chuckled. "It's not a big deal. And she should have some happy memories, especially if the physicians are right and Keefe's…out of time."

Fitz gently kissed her temple, telekinetically opening the door. "Although, he has been suffering for almost, possibly over, a decade. I think he'll appreciate the release. Even though he'll be gone, at least he won't be in pain anymore."

She nodded, sniffling. "I'll miss him though."

"All of us will."

They waited for the elevator to come back down and stepped in, pushing the button for Keefe's floor.

There were a lot of people waiting out in the hallway. Most of the team of physicians assigned to Keefe, all their parents and friends. The Collective, minus Squall, were against one wall. Glimmer was standing next to Mr. Forkle, looking very awkward, but probably feeling responsible.

She saw Lord Cassius lurking in a corner, pretending he wasn't there.

"Hey guys."

Sophie smiled, giving Biana a tight hug. "Hey."

Dex gave them both a watery smile, waving around the redheaded toddler in his arms. "I'd give you a hug, but this one didn't want to nap before we came, so she's tired and falling asleep."

Fitz smiled, reaching over and rubbing his niece's shoulder. "I know that feeling."

Sophie jumped when a pair of small arms wrapped around her leg. She leaned down as best she could and gave her nephew a hug. "Hey big guy."

Prentice sighed, looking like he wanted a nap as much as his twin sister. "I don't want Uncle Keefe to go."

"I know, buddy, none of us do. But he's really, really sick and he's not getting better." Sophie helped Biana lift him up into her arms.

He sighed, snuggling into his mother.

Elwin found them, looking somber. "Could you guys head in? I'm trying to gather everyone who should have a voice in this…decision."

Sophie nodded, taking Fitz's hand and squeezing it tightly. "We'll leave the kids out here. They should get a chance to say goodbye, but I don't want them to hear the discussion."

Dex nodded, reaching over and tapping Lovise on the shoulder. The goblin gently took both children from their parents and Biana and Dex slipped though the crowd and into Keefe's room.

Jolie walked over to them, bright brown eyes full of tears. Fitz bent down and picked her up, murmuring soothing words into her ear.

Sophie gently rubbed her daughter's back. "What's wrong, baby?"

"There's a mean man in the corner." She pointed to Lord Cassius. "I don't like him."

Fitz scowled, glaring daggers at Keefe's father. "How about you stay with Lovise, Woltzer and your cousins for a little bit. Mommy and Daddy have to go talk to the physicians about Uncle Keefe, okay?"

Jolie nodded as Fitz set her down, running over to Woltzer and wrapping her arms around his leg, since she couldn't reach his waist.

_We got this. _Fitz whispered, offering his arm.

_I hope so._

Keefe's room was much less crowded. Dex was leaning against the wall next to the door, Biana in his arms. Grady and Edaline were in much the same position on the opposite wall, both trying to hold back tears and Edaline failing. Alden and Della were on the couch, hand in hand, staring at the floor. Tam was in the corner, holding Linh tightly as she sobbed into his shoulder. Marella was speaking in quiet tones to Livvy, probably wanting to know if Everblaze was of any use. From her expression, the answer was no.

Elwin stepped into the room and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "This is a decision I never thought I'd have to make, much less for such a close friend. I know all of you are upset and grieving. But's it's a decision that has to be made." He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. "When I checked on Keefe yesterday, I saw that the brain and nerve damage that has slowly been advancing over the past several years has reached the portion of the brain that controls the vital functions. It won't be long, less than a week, before it destroys those too and then, that will be it."

Sophie bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from breaking down in tears.

"So, we have a choice." Livvy reached over and squeezed Elwin's shoulder. "Either we let the nerve disorder take its course and he dies naturally, though extremely painfully, or…" She sighed. "I can up his next soporodine dose to a...lethal amount. I don't make that statement lightly. If I saw any way out of this, I would have said something years ago. But we're out of options and I would like to give him at least a painless death."

Sophie tried in vain to stave off her sobs, hot tears running down her cheeks.

"Since he isn't responding, we thought you should be the ones to make the decision."

Tam sighed, seeming to be the only one in the room capable of speaking. "We all know how tired he's been these last years, especially this past one. Weary of just existing. I know we shouldn't play God, especially when it comes to people's lives. But if he could choose, I think he would wants life to end on his own terms. But if no one else wants to, we don't have to."

Fitz hugged Sophie tightly as she wept into his shoulder. His voice vibrated against her ear as he spoke. "I think Tam is right. Every day Keefe had since Loanmore was borrowed time." His voice broke and he had to take a few breaths to center himself. "I also know that there were days when Keefe asked me how hard it would really be on everyone around him if he just gave up and stopped fighting. I always talked him out of it, but he was drained in every possible way. I hate the thought of being responsible for my best friend's death, though Tam is right. If he were responding, I think Keefe would want to have this little bit of control. He's had no control the last ten years of his life. He'd want to be able to control the circumstances of his death."

Sophie took a deep breath, stepping out of Fitz's arms. "I want to see if I can contact him. I want to see if he'll respond to me before we come to a decision. I'm not disagreeing with you. I think you're right. But I have to try first."

Elwin nodded. "You should. If you think there's even a slight chance, you should. This is his life we're talking about."

Sophie took a deep breath, kneeling next to Keefe's bed and taking his hand between hers. His fingers felt so scrawny and thin, his skin papery, as if it could break the second she applied friction. And he seriously needed some moisturiser.

She reached out for his mind, sending soft waves of love before a gentle transmission. _K__eefe, can you hear me?_

Her words sank into the grey without the slightest fizzle. If it weren't for the erratic, unsteady heartbeat under her fingertips, she would have assumed he had already died.

"Did you hear anything? Did he say anything?" Dex asked, sniffling.

Sophie pressed her lips together, refusing to say anything unless she had a positive answer.

_Keefe, I need you to answer me!_

"Sophie?" Fitz set a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Is he not responding?" He didn't read her mind, trusting she'd tell him the truth.

_Keefe, please. Just one word, something! Please…_

No matter how many times she shoved the word into his head, begging him to say something, anything, anything at all to prove he was still fighting.

Then his hand squeezed hers.

Barely, there was scarcely enough strength left in his muscles to move, let alone apply any pressure. But it was a movement, and that was more than they'd gotten in years. Her shoulders slumped in relief.

_Sophie…_ His whispery mental voice was pained and weak, but he was responding.

_Oh thank God. Keefe!_

_I don't want to be awake. Let me go back to sleep._

_We need to talk to you first._

_I don't want to talk. I want to sleep, where there's no pain._

_You can do that as soon as you answer my question._

He didn't answer so she kept talking, not finding a way to soften the blow. _Elwin said the nerve damage is spreading to your vital organs and will probably shut down your heart and lungs within a week. We can either leave it alone and let this take its course, or… She squeezed her eyes shut. Voicing the possibilities to him made it real, and she didn't want it to be real. Or we can up your next soporodine dose to a lethal level._

Keefe still didn't respond for several seconds. Then he asked, _Would it hurt?_

Sophie bit her lip and looked at Elwin, managing to keep her voice from breaking as she said, "He wants to know if it would hurt."

Elwin struggled to keep his voice level. "The soporodine? No, it shouldn't."

She turned back to Keefe. _Elwin said it wouldn't._

_Okay_. His breathing became a little less laboured. _When would they give it to me? If I'm going to die, I guess it doesn't matter if they're too close together._

_Once everyone get the chance to… say goodbye. The physicians don't know if it will take effect immediately, so they want to make sure everyone can get a little bit of closure._

_Okay._

Sophie stood, tears raining down as Fitz pulled him into his arms. She felt his tears landing on her shoulder and neck.

"What did he say?" Della whispered.

"He said," Sophie took a shuddering breath and wiped her eyes. "he said he wants the soporodine."

"Well then," Livvy whispered, voice breaking as she spoke, "I guess that's what we have to do."

Sophie wasn't sure who left to tell those waiting outside what the decision had been and she didn't envy them. There was tears and someone was yelling and the door opened, letting the children in.

Jolie ran straight to her parents, clinging to Fitz's leg and crying. Sophie let go of Fitz long enough to pick Jolie up and sandwich her between them.

"Hey Jojobean."

"Why does Uncle Keefe have to go?" Sophie hated hearing the grief in her daughter's voice. After all they'd done to make sure she would never know that kind of pain, the Neverseen had found a way to reach through the years and hurt her daughter like this.

Sophie managed to hold back her tears long enough to answer. "Because he's really, really sick and there's nothing we can do. So, he's going to die. But you'll be able to say goodbye. He won't be able to answer, but he can hear you."

Jolie didn't answer, tucking her face into her father's shoulder and continuing to cry. Eventually, Livvy and Elwin had everyone leave so people could come in one at a time to say goodbye.

Sophie clung to Fitz and Jolie as if they were the only things keeping her from breaking down completely. They clung to her and each other just as tightly. Many people approached them to give consolation and hugs. Ro was curled up in a ball in a corner, sobbing her eyes out. Bo was sitting next to her with his arm around her shoulders.

"You have to do something!" Lord Cassius wasn't yelling, but he may as well have been. He grabbed Sophie's arm, errant tears sliding down his cheek. "You have to fix this!"

Fitz drew himself up, face tightening in familiar anger, though his voice was quiet. "Take your hands off my wife and don't touch her again."

"Make me." Cassius, for once, looked exactly the part of a father grieving the loss of his only child. Sophie knew he had the right to mourn, but right now, she didn't care.

"Get your hands off me." She yanked her arm out of his grip, rubbing the spot that was probably going to bruise. "You think you're the only one losing him? You might be losing the son you never cared enough about to show up _until he's dying_, but I'm losing a brother I have spent years helping to survive. I'm losing a friend who suffered horribly throughout his life and made the choice to have a painless death. You made the choice to disown him. You made the choice to leave us to pick up your slack. You could've been there. You could've made those memories with us. And if you had, you would understand just how much he's hurting. You would understand that this is the only other option. Do you really think that if there was something else we could do, we would have let him suffer _FOR A DAMN DECADE_ before we did anything!"

Sophie felt hot tears flowing down her cheeks. She hadn't meant to swear, especially in front of her daughter, niece and nephew, but she didn't care. "You have just as much right to grieve him as I do. But don't come crying because you think you lost him too soon. You had every chance to be with him over the last ten years. And you didn't take them. And now they're gone."

Lord Cassius stumbled back, eyes wide. He clearly hadn't expected the sweet little Moonlark to explode with all the pent-up anger and sadness and grief building up ever since she'd brought Keefe home from Loanmore. Sophie was beginning to understand why Fitz hid behind anger. Anger was easy. Much easier than the crushing, lonely grief and the reality that she was losing one of her best friends.

"You can't talk to me that way."

"I'll talk to you however I _freaking_ please."

"Sophie, Fitz?" Elwin's voice was quiet, but they heard him clearly, even from across the room. "Do you guys want to go now or later?"

Fitz pulled her tighter against him and held Jolie close. "I think it's best if we went later. Neither of us are in a good emotional state to talk to Keefe right now. But if Jolie wants to go, she can."

Jolie nodded. "I wanna go say goodbye." Sophie had a feeling she wanted to get away from Lord Cassius more than she wanted to say goodbye to her uncle, but she left it alone.

Jolie gave Keefe's father a wide berth before running to Elwin and clinging to his leg.

"Do you really think I haven't noticed that almost everyone else in this room has taken a turn saying goodbye to my son except for me?"

Sophie glanced at Prentice and Maya and sent a short transmission to Dex and Biana to cover their children's ears, waiting for them to do so before she choked out, "Maybe if you hadn't spent the last decade being a jackass, you'd get a chance."

Lord Cassius drew himself up, ready to retaliate, until Bo and Ro stepped in. Ro was still shaky and crying, but Bo's face was full of anger.

"Say another word to her and I'll remove your tongue. I may not be cut out to be a father myself, but I know when I see a bad example."

Keefe's father knew better than to argue with an angry ogre.

Fitz gently grasped Ro's shoulder and led her and Sophie into a quiet corner.

"How are you holding up?" he whispered.

Ro wiped her eyes and sniffled, sliding down the wall to sit cross-legged on the floor. "Okay, I guess. I've been holding out hope that we'd find some sort of miracle cure, but then I got the news and it was like, this is it. The person I've spent twelve years of my life protecting is going to die and there's nothing I can do. My best friend I've joked with and helped with his homework and cared for through all of this is dying. I don't regret missing those elite levels at Foxfire, but I would sit through all those hours of boring classes without a peep of complaint for him to be okay."

Sophie sat next to her. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologise. It hurts just as much for you."

"I'm still sorry."

Fitz sat on Sophie's other side, wrapping his arms around her. She felt his shuddering breaths as he struggled not to cry.

It's okay to cry, you know. It's not like you'd be the only one.

I know. he answered. But I'd prefer to grieve in private or with just you.

They waited for what felt like hours as everyone had their turn and most people slowly trickled out. Jolie came running to them, curling up in her father's lap and going to sleep.

It was really only half an hour before everyone that wanted to leave had left and Elwin asked them to come in.

Sophie would have cried if she thought she had any tears left. After all the late nights, tearful memories and rage-filled screams, she'd spent so much emotion on this that when it was almost over, she just didn't have anything left to give. Until she saw the syringe with a thin, sharp needle.

Despite the fact that it had been years since she'd seen a needle and even longer since she'd had her last shot, they still made her skin crawl.

"Are you okay?" Fitz murmured in her ear.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just still hate needles."

Elwin sighed. "I know you do. But since he can't swallow anything and this is too large a dose to be absorbed through the skin, I don't really have another option."

Sophie took a deep breath, looking anywhere besides the glistening metal point. "I understand."

Fitz let go of Sophie, taking her hand in his and reaching for Keefe's with the other. "Is it okay if I touch him? He didn't seem to be in any more pain when you were holding his hand earlier."

"I'm pretty sure it's okay."

"Okay." Fitz gently took his hand, rubbing his thumb of the back of Keefe's hand. "Hey Keefe. I hope you can hear me. I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry I didn't do anything to stop it."

He dropped Sophie's hand to wipe the tears from his eyes, continuing telepathically. Sophie didn't listen to what he said. It wasn't meant for her.

Elwin reached over and set his hand on Sophie's arm to get her attention. "Let me know when you guys are done. Of course, if you want to stay, you can."

Fitz let go of Keefe's hand and wrapped his arms around Sophie again, crying softly into her shoulder.

"We'll stay."

"Okay. You should know though, while we were doing research on the soporodine, we discovered that it could be a powerful painkiller under…certain circumstances. So there is a chance he may…wake up, for a bit, before it…does its job."

Sophie nodded.

She had to close her eyes, hot tears leaking down her cheeks. She couldn't watch the soporodine flooding into his arm, briefly turning the vein black before flowing to the rest of his body. Sophie didn't open her eyes until she felt a bony hand take hers.

"Sophie?"

His voice was broken and soft and weak, but it was the first time she'd heard it in years. She opened her eyes to see Keefe looking back at her, without any pain in his gaze. He smiled, squeezing her fingers with what little strength his had left.

"Don't cry. It's okay."

Unable to help herself, she dropped his hand and hugged Keefe as tightly as she dared. He hugged her back, needing a little help from Fitz to get his arms around her.

"It's going to be okay. I'm not in pain anymore."

Fitz hugged them both, tears running down his face. "We're going to miss you."

"So am I." Keefe leaned his head against Sophie shoulder. "I love you guys."

"We love you too." Sophie's voice broke and she burst into tears again. Keefe lay back, whole body shaking with the exertion of holding onto her. She leaned her head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat slow as she soaked his tunic with her tears.

_Ka-thump._

Fitz let go of them, since the position was hurting his back, instead kneeling behind Sophie and wrapping his arms around her waist.

_Ka-thump._

Elwin finished packing up his supplies and left, tears tracing rivers down his face.

_Thump_.

There was a soft exhale of air on Sophie's face and she looked up. Keefe had a soft smile on his face, but his eyes were glazed over and the light was gone.

Just like that, he was gone.

Sophie was completely numb in those days and weeks between Keefe's death and the funeral. All she could do was go through the motions of caring for her family. Helping her world.

And then it was here. She left her hair down and her dress plain. No makeup, she didn't have the energy to put it on.

The only fancy thing she wore was a necklace Keefe had had made for her when she graduated school. It had a single pendant; a polished sphere of crystal marbled blue and green and every colour in between. Silver wire was wrapped decoratively around it in loops and swirls. The only piece of jewelry she owned that she liked more was the teal heart Fitz had given her eleven years ago.

She heard the shower shut off and soft footsteps on the bathroom floor. "Hey hon, could you grab me a towel? I forgot to grab one before I got in the shower."

Sophie sighed. "Are there not any left in the drawer? I just put a bunch in there."

"I didn't check." The drawer opened. "Oh yeah there are."

She went to find Jolie, comforted slightly by the coolness of the pendant's stone against her skin.

Jolie was curled up in a nest of blankets and pillows on her bed, even though it was past noon. Sophie picked her way around clothes and toys scattered around the floor and sat on the edge of her daughter's bed. "Hey Jo."

"Go 'way."

"I can't honey, we have to get ready to go."

"I don't wanna go." Jolie sounded like she was pouting, but Sophie knew she was grieving just as much as they were.

She sighed, reaching over and stroking the brunette head. "I don't want to go either. It hurts really bad, doesn't it?"

"I wanna go to Candleshade and see uncle Keefe, but he's not there anymore." Jolie sat up, eyes red.

Sophie pulled her daughter onto her lap. "I know, baby. I would let you stay home, but you can't stay home alone. I would leave you with your grandparents, but they're going too. I'm sorry Jolie, you have to go."

"I guess. Do I have to wear anything fancy?"

"Not if you don't want to. I think you look beautiful in that green dress you have in your closet, but you don't have to wear it."

"I guess I'll wear it."

Sophie left Jolie alone to get dressed and went downstairs slowly. Alden was waiting for her with an unexpected guest.

"Iltaurielle?"

The ancient elf inclined her head gently. Instead of her military style leather armour and leggings, she was wearing a forest green dress that flowed gently around her ankles. Her long russet locks flowed freely down her back.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was informed that the funeral was today and I thought I should attend, out of respect. I also came to give you some news regarding Gisela Sencen. I hope I am dressed appropriately, I was told it is customary to wear green."

"You're fine. Can I get either of you anything? A drink, there should be leftover mallowmelt if Fitz hasn't eaten it all."

Iltaurielle shook her head. "No thank you."

Alden looked severely tempted by the offer of mallowmelt, but he declined.

Sophie sat down on the couch, sighing. "What's the news? Did something go wrong?"

"Not…exactly." She walked over and perched on the arm next to Sophie. "She does not know of her son's death. I was wanting to know what you would like to be done concerning her."

"I don't know." Sophie leaned her head on Alden's shoulder as he sat next to her. "I want to be the one to tell her, but at the same time, I just want to let her rot without ever finding out what happened to him. She's the one who got him into this mess and the reason he had those disorders, so she doesn't deserve to know."

"I understand that. My advice? Tell her what happened and then turn her over to me for punishment."

"Isn't she already with you guys?"

"Our facilities are holding her, yes, but she is your prisoner and we cannot decide what happens to her unless you choose to hand her over."

"Oh." Sophie bit her lip. "What would her punishment be?"

Iltaurielle sighed. "As of now, Keefe's death had added murder to her list of charges. But since he is her son, it changes the murder charge to kinslaying, which carries a much, much heavier sentence. That would tip her most lenient final sentence from life imprisonment to execution. We can, of course, change it should you wish something different."

Gentle footsteps came down the stairs and Fitz came into view, carrying Jolie on one hip. Noting their somber expressions, he asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing, as of yet." Iltaurielle stood, gently inclining her head toward him.

"Why are you here?"

"She thought she should attend the funeral." Sophie pushed herself to her feet and walked over to Fitz, sliding her arm through his. "And she wanted to know what we wanted to do about Lady Gisela."

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about her. Do you have any other Neverseen prisoners still?"

"Only those who received lighter sentences, which most did not. They are all imprisoned for a good number of years, if not for life. I can hand any of them over to the Council should you ask, but any interrogations for which they may ask can be conducted without the prisoner leaving their cell. Lady Gisela is still awaiting sentencing, since she is your prisoner, not ours, even though she is currently held in our facility."

Fitz nodded, accepting Alden's tight hug and passing Jolie to her grandfather. "Do we know what her sentence could be right now?"

Iltaurielle shrugged. "The most lenient sentence she can receive at the moment, should you choose to place her in our custody, is execution by beheading. However, there are much worse ones available, unless you choose differently."

Fitz swallowed, turning the palest shade of green. "Is life imprisonment an option?"

"Should you decide that, yes."

"Hey." Sophie gently rubbed Fitz's arm. "How about we talk about this after the funeral? Tomorrow maybe?"

Iltaurielle nodded, bowing slightly from the waist. "I thought it best if I stayed to the back out of sight. Is that acceptable?"

Sophie nodded. "JoJo, do you want to go with us or with Grandpa?"

She wrapped her arms around Alden's neck. "Can I go with Papa Alden?"

"Is okay with you, Dad?" Fitz asked quietly.

"I have to pick up Della on the way, but it's fine. I'm only here because Lady Iltaurielle doesn't know how to light leap."

"Okay. See you there, kiddo."

"Bye Daddy."

After Alden and Jolie left, Sophie turned to Iltaurielle. "Do you need any help getting to the Wanderling Woods?"

"Help would be nice. I cannot travel using my normal methods within the Lost Cities as there is not enough power in the air to sustain it. I could go back to Adeala and then to the woods, but that creates quite the…fiery spectacle."

"Yeah. Not the best for a funeral." Sophie leaned her head on Fitz's shoulder as they walked outside. "You know how light leaping works, right?"

Iltaurielle tilted her head to the side. "Likely not enough. I understand it involves breaking your body down into particles to be carried on a beam of light to your destination and that one must concentrate to keep them together lest too many float off, leaving your body unable to reform."

Sophie winced. When you put it that way, it did make light leaping seem a little more than dangerous. "Well, we don't really have another option."

"I know. But I enjoy seeing your kind squirm when I describe it in that manner."

Fitz sighed, extending his hand to Iltaurielle. She took it and Sophie twisted the pathfinder to the facet for the Wanderling Woods. It took here a few tries to find it, since her hands were shaking so badly.

She may have been wrong, but it looked like there were more people packed into the Wanderling Woods than there had been for both Alden and Kenric's funerals. Not everyone was crying, but everyone had the same empty look and she understood it.

The elvin world had failed.

They had failed a child, who suffered for ten horrible years. They had failed to prevent his insane mother from killing him. They had failed so badly a foreign power had to do their job for them. Yes, the Neverseen were gone permanently, but was it worth the price?

Iltaurielle dropped Fitz's hand, blending expertly into the crowd. An elf they didn't recognise showed them to a roped-off area where Biana, Dex, their twins, Linh, Tam, Marella, and a dark-haired woman Sophie didn't recognise. She was standing slightly away from the rest of them, but her and Tam were close enough together that Sophie could make a guess.

"Glimmer?"

She smiled. "My name is Saria, actually. I thought I should be here, given the circumstances. And today is not a day to hide."

While they waited, Sophie took the opportunity to study Saria. Her features were gentle, with high cheekbones and pale skin. Her dress was so deep green it was nearly black, with onyx accents. Tam had a certain protective air regarding her, gently taking her arm when one too many people shot her angry glares and whispered insults.

The Council glittered onto the stage, all of them somber. They alone had been made aware of the circumstances of Keefe's death. All the public knew was that he had passed away and the nerve disorder had killed him.

Councillor Emery stepped forward. "Thank you all for being here and showing your support, even if only some of you know the circumstances."

Sophie didn't hear the rest of what he said. All she could do was cry into Fitz's shoulder, body shaking with the force of her loss and pain. He held her tightly, his tears flowing with hers.

Keefe's tree didn't sprout as quickly as she's expected. But it grew quickly, spiralling up into a small tree with pale bark and gentle blue leaves. They weren't exactly the same colour as Keefe's eyes, but Sophie thought the gentle ocean blue represented him better.

The flowers that sprouted were blood red.

Murmurs swept through the crowd, theorising why this might be. Sophie thought they represented the pain and struggle he'd gone through.

Both times she'd been to an elvin funeral, she'd been in the line of people giving their condolences to the grieving family. Now she was standing in front of it with Fitz, Ro and Jolie. She'd been told before the funeral that she and select others would be taking the place of Keefe's family.

Something felt off as the line slowly diminished. People Sophie knew better, Wylie, Stina, Marella and their parents, gave her comforting hugs and words of encouragement. Acquaintances she'd run into at Foxfire offered teary apologies and some people who had been childhood friends of Keefe were crying too hard to speak and Sophie found herself comforting them through her tears.

When they went to find everyone, she finally put her finger on what was wrong.

Lord Cassius wasn't there.

She hadn't see him anywhere and now, looking around the slowly emptying forest, she couldn't see him anywhere.

She would have asked around to find out what had happened and why he wasn't there, if she had enough energy to care.

* * *

The next few days they spent arranging a time with Iltaurielle to talk to Lady Gisela. Sophie originally hadn't wanted anything to do with Keefe's horrible excuse for a mother, but she wanted to deliver the news that Lady Gisela was directly responsible for her own son's death herself.

She was very disappointed to discover that one could not light leap or teleport in or out of Adeala. Their only option was the fiery portal thing Iltaurielle used, which looked a little too dangerous for Sophie's tastes. Iltaurielle assured them it was perfectly safe and far safer than light leaping.

"I would not offer if it were not safe."

"I still don't trust that thing." Sophie stared at the swirling vortex of fire.

Iltaurielle snuffed out the fireball in her hand. "You don't have to. But if you want to go, it is your only option."

Sophie sighed, turning to say goodbye to Fitz. "See you later. Love you."

"Love you too."

"Bye Mommy. I'll miss you." Jolie wrapped her arms around Sophie's leg.

She smiled. "I won't be gone for very long. Promise. Only about an hour."

Jolie pouted. "But that's too long."

"Here, can I have a big hug?" Sophie knelt down, returning her daughter's squeeze-the-life-out hug"I'll see you when I get home, okay?"

"Okay."

Sophie stood and walked to the edge of the cliff again.

"Are you ready?"

"Nope." But she jumped anyway, squeezing her eyes shut tightly right as it looked like she was going to land in the fire.

Wind whooshed past her and she didn't feel the slightest wisp of burning heat. When she opened her eyes, she was floating above a circular marble courtyard.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

Iltaurielle lowered her down until her feet settled on the stone. "Welcome to Egaeta, the Ironclad City."

"Wow."

All of the buildings around them were built of the same white stone, which now that she had a closer look, didn't look anything like marble. There were graceful arches in the windows with delicate carvings decorating the walls. In some places, the gold filigree accentuating the edges of the windows and doors had chipped, but the courtyard stones were weed and moss free.

"This is beautiful."

"We're in the main citadel pavilion now. The high-security prisoners are kept in the underground level in secure individual wings." Iltaurielle led her to a house and tapped three times on the doorknob before she opened it. Inside was a stark change from outside. It was still clean, but the stone was dark grey and damp, even in the places where torches lit the way down. "We keep conditions clean and appropriate for our prisoners, regardless of whether they deserve it, but we keep it feeling gloomy in purpose. They lose hope and are easier to extract information from that way."

Sophie nodded.

"She should be in the first cell block. The only dangerous thing about her is her mind and that's useless if she can't communicate. I've noticed that the Polyglot ability doesn't not extend to some languages here, so she's completely harmless here."

Iltaurielle stopped in front of a steel door with a keyhole and no knob and removed a key from her pocket, handing it to Sophie. "Enter whenever you are ready. It's not a fancy cell, just a barred wall between you."

Sophie took the key. "Adeala's nothing like the Lost Cities. Every prison I've seen there is completely different."

"We saw no reason to stop using a system that works. The more dangerous prisoners are farthest down the tunnel, with many solid metal doors between them and the surface. We have other, more secure prisons. This is simply a holding facility for those awaiting trial, or in Gisela Sencen's case, those who don't need anything more secure."

"Okay. Will you be waiting out here?"

"Aye, I will. You can leave the door open a touch if you want me to be able to hear your conversation or you can close it."

"Thanks." Sophie slid the key in the lock and turned it. The door clicked and a doorknob slid out. She put the key in her pocket and pulled the door open.

To her surprise, Lady Gisela didn't look much worse for wear. Her plain grey dress was clean and fairly new and the cell itself, while not sterile, was still clean. Her hair, surprisingly frizzy and curly, hung down her back.

"Hello, Sophie." She smiled and rose from the bed carved into the far wall. It looked rather high-quality for a prison, but by Lady Gisela's standards, it was probably horrible.

"I was wondering if you'd forgotten all about me."

Sophie took a deep breath, stepping forward into the light coming from a single lantern hanging from the ceiling. "I never forgot. I just didn't care."

Lady Gisela's eyes were immediately drawn to the Vacker crest glinting in the light and her smile became a frown. "I see I am disappointed again. Is my son with you? Is that who's lurking just behind the door?"

"Your son," Sophie whispered, reaching into her pocket and holding out a small branch she had taken from Keefe's Wanderling. "is dead."

Lady Gisela's jaw dropped and pure shock took over her face. She took the branch in trembling fingers, tracing the edge of the single flower's petals. "No."

"Your son is dead," Sophie repeated, "and you killed him. Your experiment killed him."

She sank to the floor, holding the twig to her chest. "You're lying."

"He died in my arms. I watched him stop breathing. His funeral was two days ago. Why would I be lying?"

"You have to be lying!" Lady Gisela looked up at her with eyes of hatred and grief. "Do you have any idea the time and effort I put into that to make sure it would do what I wanted? There was no way that could have happened! I spent years calibrating the exact amounts!"

Sophie felt straggling tears begin to drip down her cheeks. "Well it didn't work. From the moment he woke up, he was in excruciating pain. He suffered for ten years before it became too much for him. You couldn't accept the wonderful son you already had, so in your arrogance, you tried to make a better one. And you killed him."

"You're bluffing. You're lying. You're trying to keep him away from me. You don't want me influencing him in the right direction." The grief in Lady Gisela's voice had a tinge of madness. "You're lying!"

"Why. Would. I. Lie." Sophie leaned over and stared the older woman in the eye. "I can show you my memories if that's what it would take to convince you, but I am not lying. You know what a Wanderling branch looks like. You know none of the other ones have blood-red flowers, so this one must be new. And Keefe's not with me. I promise, he wanted to be here. He wanted to get better and come here and watch justice be done. You have no reason to believe me, but I have even fewer reasons to lie."

"Show me."

"What?"

"Show me." Tears were flowing down Lady Gisela's face and for once, Sophie knew she had no other agendas. "Prove you're telling the truth and show me."

"Okay." Sophie took a deep breath and gathered all of the important memories into a mental probe and shoved them into Gisela's head.

Memories of the weeks waiting to see if he would wake up. When Iltaurielle had finally triggered it. The screams of pain when Keefe finally woke up. The years spent adjusting. The epilepsy diagnosis and some of the terrifying grand mal seizures Sophie had the misfortune of witnessing. Every day he lost another function; his hearing, sometimes his sight, and towards the end, any movement at all. And the soft breath on Sophie's cheek when he had finally let go.

"My son is dead." Gisela whispered, finally believing the words.

"And you killed him."

* * *

Sophie had Iltaurielle drop her off in the Wanderling Woods. As she walked through the trees to the secluded clearing when Keefe's tree grew, she slipped her earbuds into her ears and selected a rather special song.

While they were figuring out communication, Keefe had used music to explain his feelings. One of the songs he loved was one he'd used to put into words the feelings he couldn't explain. Demons by Imagine Dragons.

She curled up in a ball, weeping silently as she listened to the words, reliving the happy memories, now tinged by incredible grief.

Fitz found her later that day, still curled up in a ball crying. He said nothing besides a soft transmission telling her where Jolie was and sat next to her, setting one arm around her shoulders.

When she closed her eyes, she could almost feel a soft hand taking hers and a voice saying,_ I'm okay now, Sophie._

She may have lost this fight, but all the others she had won. And she was never going to fight again.

* * *

**We're done. We're actually done. It took too many late nights, not enough proofreading and some really awesome reviewers to do it. But I did it. Thank you to WelcomeToTheOrder for beta'ing, sorry I forgot to send you this last chapter, I was slacking off. Thank you to ****Sarcasticsnark13**** for being my first reviewer on this story, and thank you to Wonderland aka Cay-Cay for being my most consistent reviewer on everything I posted. There are lots of other awesome peeps out there and thank you to all of you as well. I honestly can't name you all. Thanks to all my guest reviewers, you'er amazing and I wish I could've sent you the teasers you deserved.**

**Final word count: 66,666 (I kid you not, that's the actual word count on my document. I know, it's crazy weird.)**

**I will not longer be publishing on Wednesdays except for the bonus first birthday chapter. That will be on a Wednesday, I don't know which, but probably within the next few.**

**Shine brightly!**

**Ruby**


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